Paris (AFP)

The examination of the pension reform turns into a deadlock in the National Assembly: on the third day of debates on Wednesday, reminders to the regulations and suspensions followed one another in great tension, preventing any progress of work on the thousands of amendments.

From the opening of the session at 3:00 p.m., the tone was set with reminders to the LR regulations asking for clarification on the financing of the reform, and from the left denouncing the rules in force for the examination of the 41,000 amendments.

In a stormy atmosphere, the three left-wing groups - PS, PCF and LFI - contested the measures taken the previous day in a conference of the presidents of the Assembly to criss-cross the debate, notably providing for a single speaker on the identical amendments.

For the left, it is particularly unacceptable that amendments placed in different places of the text fall on the grounds that they would have the same object.

"It is serious what is happening," launched Sébastien Jumel (PCF), seeing there "a new weapon to muzzle the Parliament".

At the perch, Richard Ferrand (LREM) defended the application of a "constant rule" and excluded any new conference of presidents on the grounds that "moods would change".

The boss of LR Christian Jacob also intervened, saying that with such a rule "we arrive at something ridiculous".

Several session suspensions followed, interspersed with the examination of a handful of amendments, recalling the paralysis of July 2018 during the examination of the draft constitutional revision, collateral victim of the Benalla affair.

The communists, who asked as the day before for a quorum check, quickly exhausted their quota of suspensions and therefore asked ... a vote to temporarily interrupt the work.

And during one of the multiple breaks, on the eve of a new interprofessional day of mobilization, several rebellious and communists sang the song of the yellow vests "here we are".

- "Lépine obstruction competition" -

"What image do we give of our work? It is basic anti-parliamentarism," protested the co-rapporteur Nicolas Turquois (MoDem), applauded standing by the majority, while the Secretary of State Laurent Pietraszewski pleaded to return to the debate.

On Twitter, elected officials said they were "ashamed" that the Assembly "was turning into a circus" or lamented "a sorry Lépine obstruction contest". The day before, some had said they were "dismayed", denouncing "delaying tactics" of the oppositions.

Denouncing the strategies aimed at "bordering the session", the general rapporteur Guillaume Gouffier-Cha (LREM) also told the press the urge of "walkers" to get to the bottom of the text "as quickly as possible".

Since Monday, the debates skate on this reform aiming to create a "universal" system of pensions by points. After long discussions on the very title of the bill, the deputies have not yet started examining article 1, devoted to "general principles" and which alone is the subject of more than 1,700 amendments .

In the hope that the calendar can hold, the deputies will sit at least until March 6, with work this weekend.

The specter of the use of the "49-3", a weapon of the Constitution which allows the government to shorten debates and to have a bill passed without a vote, looms large.

"We are going towards the total unknown," admits a government source, who says he is witnessing "this sad spectacle with swinging arms". "We are not going to endure this for three weeks. (...) Will not the inevitable landing be 49-3?".

"Pyromaniac firefighters. The very ones who stifle the debate under tens of thousands of amendments are the same ones who will cry out in scandal if blocked and # 49.3", tweeted Olivia Grégoire (LREM).

Would the use of "49-3" be a defeat? "Not at all," replied his colleague Florian Bachelier to the Association of Parliamentary Journalists. "The majority must not lock themselves into the trap set by the far left" and "everyone will take their responsibilities".

Monday evening, a "walker" predicted: "either it's painful but we get there (...), or they make Benalla and it blocks completely ..."

parl-chl / reb / ​​dch / it

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