Obstruction, invective ... Chaotic debate on pension reform

• Pension reform is bogged down in the National Assembly, where the majority and the opposition are fighting a merciless parliamentary battle.
• Between procedural attacks and heckling, even invective, the atmosphere is electric in the hemicycle, while the examination of the two laws is slowed down.
• At this rate, it seems unlikely that the deputies will be able to adopt the reform in time, before March 6, and recourse to 49.3 is looming.

The more the sessions are linked, the more the end of the tunnel seems to move away. The chaotic examination of the pension reform continues in the National Assembly since Monday. MEPs are still examining article 1 of the text, establishing a "universal" and "point-based" system. The majority and the oppositions scramble and compete for discoveries in this frantic legislative battle. This Thursday, in the hemicycle, the debates were no exception, with its anthology of invective, heckling, suspension of sessions and reminders of the rules…

The oppositions, especially on the left, seized all the tools at their disposal to denounce an "unjust" and "unpopular" reform, while, in the street, demonstrators again expressed their opposition to the text. The majority, less audible, denounced a "parliamentary sabotage", but they were forced to back down on a measure taken Wednesday to shorten the debates. 20 Minutes tells you about this legislative match.

Rain of subamendments

From the stage of the special commission, the rebellious deputies had opted for a strategy of massive bombardment of amendments, by requesting the modification or the deletion of each of the paragraphs of the two laws presented by the government. In public examination, rebellious and communists adopted another technique of parliamentary war: they tabled hundreds of subamendments on the first article, and they intend to do the same for the following. The principle being to amend each amendment, most often by proposing to change or add one or more words, without modifying the substance (for example replacing the words "no from" by "none") with, at the end, the possibility of multiplying speaking at the microphone of the Assembly. For Gilles Le Gendre, president of the macronist group in the Assembly, it is "parliamentary sabotage".

A subamendment to the Pensions Bill. - 20 minutes

To counter this avalanche of sub-amendments, the President of the Assembly Richard Ferrand (LREM) had decided this Wednesday to apply a rule to the amendments with an identical objective: to delete them. "If we sub-amend in this way, it is because President Ferrand has deliberately decided to delete 1,184 amendments tabled by the Communist deputies, it is a first under the Fifth Republic! ", In particular rebelled Fabien Roussel, asking for compensation for" this ignominy ".

Ferrand relaxes its rules

He finally won his case this Thursday early in the afternoon: the presidency of the Retropedal Assembly and renounces to delete the identical amendments. "It will add time to the opposition," concedes Gilles Le Gendre, "but that takes away from the controversy."

Amendments rejected: "I proposed to the Conference of Presidents that this rule not be applied."
>> "The French expect serious and dignified debates from us." # DirectAN #Retraites pic.twitter.com/65uPvY9VSE

As for the right-wing opposition, it also attacks the majority. "We don't have to be taken hostage between rebellious, who add up all the time, and LREM," sighs Eric Woerth, annoyed. "A chaotic text, chaotic debate", he sums up. His colleague Patrick Hetzel accused the majority of "sabotaging the whole of this parliamentary debate".

A silent and "frustrated" majority

Members of the majority, for their part, have been very little heard since the beginning of the week. "I asked to speak at 10 am, I get it at 1 pm," said MoDem Erwan Balanant. "At this rate, the first amendment tabled by the MoDem will be examined on May 26," sighs Patrick Mignola, leader of the centrist deputies. "There is frustration, because our members have worked a lot," recognizes Marie Le Bec, vice-president of the LREM group. "Some have specialized in certain points such as arduousness, or certain professional categories but, for the moment, they are prevented from expressing themselves".

Of them. Two amendments considered in more than three hours of debate this morning @AssembleeNat. At the same time, seventy sub-amendments tabled by the opposition. We don't advance, we retreat. The obstruction to its paroxysm. #DirectAN

"We're not going to speak just for fun. And we especially do not want to participate in the hysterization of the debates, "explains Gilles Le Gendre, who estimates that the rebellious and communist groups each monopolized 20% of speaking time, against 7% for walkers and 7% for elected officials Modem. The deputies LREM and MoDem however did not hesitate to heckle the opposition on several occasions.

Socialist deputy Boris Vallaud brandishes the rules of the National Assembly. - Jacques Witt / SIPA

Invective and hubbub

Another consequence of these endless debates, tensions have increased. In the hubbub, the left-wing deputies multiplied the points of order, denouncing having been molested or photographed in the hemicycle, in violation of the rules of the National Assembly. A heated argument broke out between the rebellious Clémentine Autain and the UDI Meyer Habib, after he insulted his colleague in a tweet.

- @Meyer_Habib accuses leftist parliamentarians of "trampling in a lynching parody the puppet of the President of the Republic" and assumes his hashtag
- @Clem_Autain regrets "his insults and his sexism"
Suspension of session. # Retreats #DirectAN pic.twitter.com/RSlmsEeH1Q

In such an atmosphere, the substantive questions did not find many answers this Thursday. "What will be the replacement rate? Asks the communist deputy Pierre Dharréville to Laurent Pietraszewski, secretary of state responsible for pension reform. But this question about the future amount of pensions remains unanswered.

Time flies, the amendments pass by, but the parliamentarians are still examining article 1, out of the 65 contained in ordinary law. Which makes lip service to some elected officials of the majority, that article 49-3 of the Constitution could be drawn. "I think we will finish in 49-3 but it will rather be a 3-49, it will be the opposition's fault," said MoDem Patrick Mignola. The calendar foresees that the debates continue every day, weekends included, until March 6.

Society

Opponents of pension reform try to keep the flame alive for the tenth day of protests

Politics

The CGT announces that it is leaving the retirement financing conference

• National Assembly
• Pension reform
• pcf
• The Republicans
• PS
• LREM
• France rebellious
• Deputy
• Retirement