Pension reform: the special committee cannot complete its work

Between "waste" and "bitterness", French deputies of all stripes recognized, Tuesday, February 12, their "frustration" faced with the interruption of the work of the special committee on pensions in the National Assembly. Drowned in thousands of amendments, the commission put an end to its work on the main aspect of the reform by stopping in the middle of the ford, a situation unprecedented in the history of the parliamentary chamber.

It is therefore the government's version which will be examined from February 17 in the hemicycle, without the slight changes voted in committee.

"It is an observation that I reluctantly establish, that goes without saying," recognized the president of the commission, Brigitte Bourguignon (LREM), while ensuring that "the work" accomplished "will not remain a dead letter".

Faced with the assumed obstruction of the Insoumis, who had tabled 19,000 of the approximately 22,000 amendments, the committee stalled for nine days and stopped while it had almost 14,000 amendments left. It will sit one last day on Wednesday to examine the organic side of the reform this time.

Since the constitutional revision of 2008, most of the draft laws are examined in session in their version modified by the commission. According to parliamentary sources, it has never happened since a committee failed to overcome the amendments tabled.

"The Verdun of politics, each in trenches"

In the majority, the avalanche of LFI amendments is castigated, "a contempt for parliamentary work". "The oppositions must take responsibility," claims walker Marie Lebec.

For its part, the opposition completely rejects the constrained parliamentary calendar for this reform. It is "not serious", according to the socialist Boris Vallaud while the leader of the deputies LR Damien Abad regrets the "sword stroke in the water" of the commission.

Reform of #retraites to the Assembly: "It is a blow for nothing. A stroke of the sword in the water. The proof of the uselessness of such a debate which was confiscated by La France insoumise and the government ", castigated @damienabad. #DirectAN pic.twitter.com/84cZTHqJwg

To "appease", the twenty or so amendments adopted in committee could be taken up by the general rapporteur, Guillaume Gouffier-Cha (LREM).

Despite a few bursts of voice, the debates remained generally courteous for nine days. The same critics came back in loop with opponents: impact study "rigged", reform "fuzzy", or text "with holes" due to the thirty or so ordinances programmed by the government ...

The majority for its part defended a project of "social progress", with the minimum pension of 1,000 euros for full careers from 2022 or pensions for "women" presented as the "big winners" of the future system, which is disputed the opposition.

The 75 hours of debate were like "the Verdun of politics, each in trenches (...) For a quarter of an hour good, you had three hours bad", according to a walker.

The rebels intend to continue the fight in plenary session

Will the blockage continue in the hemicycle, while the majority seeks adoption at first reading in early March, before the municipal elections?

The rebellious already mention a "fireworks" in session, in number of amendments. "We are going to make sure that they cannot finish on March 3 or when they need the 49-3", a weapon of the Constitution allowing to shorten the debates and to adopt the text without a vote, warns Eric Coquerel.

"The struggle continues on all fronts. Macron's obstinacy will be overcome," Jean-Luc Mélenchon tweeted Tuesday evening.

Tonight the charge of macronism against pensions is defeated. Examination of the text is interrupted in art. 26 of 65 in the law. The special commission allowed decisive revelations. The struggle continues on all fronts. Macron's obstinacy will be overcome.

The three groups on the left - PS, PCF and LFI- also promise a motion of censure and a "referendum motion", perhaps at the opening of the debates, which could slow them down.

A majority official however wants to believe that the debates are "tenable" over three weeks - one more than expected at this stage - because there are "regulatory tools" reinforced during the session.

The government and LREM officials currently exclude the use of 49-3. "This would kill the debate, it is not an option considered", assures Marie Lebec (LREM), even if some "walkers" already warn that they will have "no political problem" to use it.

For Damien Abad (LR), 49-3 is "the atomic weapon. It is absolutely unthinkable in a bill like this one".

Meanwhile, the social movement continues, with five unions calling for a "dead day" in transport on February 17 and an inter-professional day of strikes set by the inter-union on February 20.

Tuesday evening, receiving the deputies of the majority, President Emmanuel Macron urged them to "sell this reform which is a justice reform", in order to adopt it definitively "before the summer".

With AFP

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