Pension reform: first round in the Assembly, battle for amendments in sight - France 24

Paris (AFP)

The deputies begin the match of the retirements: the examination of the vast reform, article by article, starts Monday afternoon in committee in the National assembly, under a gust of amendments of the oppositions.

Some 22,000 amendments - a record under this legislature - have been tabled on this contested plan to create a "universal system" of point retirement.

Enough to seize the work of the special committee of 71 deputies, which risks failing to complete the examination of the 65 articles of the ordinary bill and the five of the organic bill, before their arrival in the hemicycle on 17 February.

The 17 Insoumis, who assume "obstruction" according to their leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, have alone deposited about 19,000.

"This is legislative ZADism", snorts the co-rapporteur Olivier Véran. This turns to "absurdity", according to the Minister of Relations with Parliament Marc Fesneau, who points to LFI amendments deleting each paragraph, including minimum pension or arduousness.

While the French contesting the reform have been on the pavement since December 5, the majority is well aware that the opposition will not give him "any gift", like Prime Minister Edouard Philippe who is "not afraid" of the "ember field" "promised.

Although many of their permanent staff have been targeted, the "walkers" say they are "proud" to carry this reform, Emmanuel Macron's campaign commitment. Some are linked to reformist unions.

For the president of the Assembly Richard Ferrand (LREM, ex-PS), it is "the most left reform of the quinquennium".

- No "coercion" -

A "walker" recognizes this: "we will also be assessed on our ability to keep our nerves" and "we will have to manage fatigue". First in the special commission chaired by Brigitte Bourguignon (LREM), where Secretary of State Laurent Pietraszewski and Minister Agnès Buzyn are to succeed one another from the start of the afternoon on Monday.

Then come the exam in mid-February, where the tension may reach its climax. Oppositions should multiply the amendments and resort to all procedural tricks.

President of the MoDem group, Patrick Mignola suggests brandishing a "49-3 of deterrence", a weapon of the Constitution allowing to shorten the debates and to adopt the text without voting.

But Minister Marc Fesneau, also from MoDem, does not want "coercion". And the president of the Senate Gérard Larcher (LR) advises the government the 49-3: "it always ends badly".

In addition to the substance of the reform, the oppositions criticize the form: a text "with holes" with in particular its 29 programmed orders and a "contempt" of the Parliament. They are based on the opinion of the Council of State which pointed to "incomplete" financial projections.

The three left groups - PS, PCF and LFI - are ready to draw all the tools, including a joint motion of censure against the government in mid-February or, as the socialists wish, after debates in principle at the end of February.

"If things do not move in the Parliament", the number one of the PS Olivier Faure hopes that during the municipal elections of March the French will express "their fed-up and that the government will be forced to give up".

On the other side of the hemicycle, no obstruction but a thousand LR amendments for the committee. "Our strategy is to embody a third way between the government and those who are blocked," says group boss Damien Abad.

The RN deputies led by Marine Le Pen have dozens of amendments to delete articles and could join the censure motion, which is left-wing debate.

The final adoption of the reform is scheduled before the summer.

The social partners will continue until April the work of the conference responsible for bringing the pension system back to financial equilibrium by 2027.

Meanwhile, the street battle will continue: Thursday are announced new interprofessional events to demand the withdrawal of the project.

The general secretary of the CGT Philippe Martinez argued on Sunday to LCI that "this movement is well rooted, it is broad so there is still time (for the government) to say + we stop everything, we start from zero +".

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