Paris (AFP)

"Ca rame", blows an LREM deputy: the standoff on pensions started in slow motion Monday in a special committee in the Assembly, where the opposition, LFI in mind, pounded word for word the reform carried by the majority.

On Monday, the committee only reviewed 245 amendments out of the 22,000 or so on the program ... And the co-rapporteur of the text Nicolas Turquois (MoDem) quickly denounced the "opposition in principle" of the rebels, including for measures "unanimously recognized solidarity", such as the "minimum pension of 1,000 euros".

"The country has been in turmoil for almost 60 days against your bill," retorted Adrien Quatennens (LFI), referring to the strike movement that has been shaking the country since December 5. "We oppose the total philosophy of the text," added Clémentine Autain.

The Insubmitted people alone have tabled 19,000 amendments in order to use "all possible weapons to delay the final decision", according to their leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, present in committee on Monday.

This veers to "absurdity", believes the Minister of Relations with Parliament Marc Fesneau, who points to amendments deleting each paragraph, including the minimum pension or arduousness.

Enough to seize the work of this committee of 71 deputies, who risk 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 February 17 . The texts would then be examined in the versions tabled by the government.

"We are at the very beginning", nuance with AFP the vice-president of the commission Célia de Lavergne (LREM), who considers that it is too early to speak on the keeping of deadlines.

- "Playmobil" -

The discussions remained generally courteous, with the first bursts of voice during the intervention of the communist Sébastien Jumel, on the "playmobil sans coeur" of LREM, in reference to their recent vote against the extension of the bereavement leave upon the death of a child, on which the majority recognized an "error" which it promised to correct.

"Enough", "there is no heartless here", "this is not the debate" of the day, replied the president of the commission Brigitte Bourguignon (LREM).

For its part, the right has castigated "the huge readability problem" of this reform which would amount to "recreating as many regimes as those existing for 95% of the French", according to Eric Woerth (LR).

"The right opposition is in his project, they are consistent and straight in their boots", but on the left, "they all run after LFI" and his "undermining work", denounces the walker Cendra Motin.

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

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

Elected leftists also criticized the "silence" of Secretary of State Laurent Pietraszewski in committee, before he said he wanted to intervene "at the right time", in "the order of the text presented". (...) If you ask me about all the subjects, we can spend a lot of time. "

- No "coercion" -

Only objects of consensus, the unanimous vote of two LR and PS amendments to insist on the role of caregivers of elderly relatives, sick or disabled, in order to take it into account in this "universal system" of pensions.

For the rest, the debate, foot by foot, promises to be laborious. "We will also be assessed on our ability to keep our nerves", warns a LREM MP.

Because, after the commission, will come the examination in session in mid-February, where the tension may reach its climax.

The president of the MoDem group, Patrick Mignola, suggests brandishing a "49-3 deterrent", a weapon of the Constitution allowing to shorten the debates and to adopt the text without a vote.

But Marc Fesneau does not want "coercion". And the president of the Senate Gérard Larcher (LR) advises the government on 49-3. "It always ends badly" according to him.

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

© 2020 AFP