The Prime Minister invited himself Sunday evening to the dinner of the deputies of the majority. Edouard Philippe wanted to take the pulse of the LREM deputies, but also to talk about 49.3, a hypothesis that is more and more raised to get out of the deleterious debate in the Assembly on the pension reform. Even if, officially, nothing is decided.

It has now been a week since the National Assembly began examining the much-contested pension reform. And after long hours of debate, often interspersed with incidents, MEPs still haven't finished debating ... article 1. For several days, the idea of ​​resorting to 49.3 has been distilled by certain figures of the majority. It is in this context that Edouard Philippe invited himself Sunday evening to the dinner of the deputies of the majority.

"It is important that we also see that the government is by our side"

It is first to "take the pulse" of LREM deputies that the Prime Minister, in jeans and sneakers, came to listen to the members of the majority, who left to eat between two sessions in the National Assembly. No speeches or announcements, Edouard Philippe had first come to support a majority wracked by the debates.

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"It is important that we also see that the government is by our side," slides to Europe 1 MP Brigitte Bourguignon, welcoming this friendly moment. "Because you cannot imagine being days and nights like that and not being supported a little inside, so it is normal that he came to say good evening to us."

Majority and opposition pass the buck

Inevitably, the possible recourse to 49.3, which would allow the government to have the text adopted without a vote - but by putting its responsibility in the balance -, invited itself to the table for this convivial moment. But nothing is stopped for the moment, swear on the side of LREM deputies. "Obviously we talked to him about it, we talked about it," said walker Cendra Motin. "But concretely, no message from him to tell us that he was thinking today or that he was moving towards this type of procedure," she said.

For several days, majority and opposition have been passing the buck to a possible 49.3. It is the only solution to get out of the obstruction claimed by the opposition, plead some marchers. For its part, La France insoumise accuses the majority of overcoming chaos to prepare opinion and justify recourse to 49.3.