Pensions: a balloon with the effigy of a minister and the debates in the Assembly are derailed

The tweet of a member of the insubordinate France (LFI) targeting the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt sets fire to the hemicycle.

The examination of the pension reform was temporarily interrupted on Friday February 10 in the National Assembly, and the deputy excluded for fifteen days of sittings, on the eve of a new hoped-for massive mobilization by the unions.

The author of the contentious message, Thomas Portes, was given the heaviest disciplinary sanction against a deputy – the same having been adopted against Grégoire de Fournas (RN), author of remarks deemed racist in November .

The Insoumis, girded with his tricolor scarf, was staged Thursday on the social network, his foot resting on a ball bearing the image of the Minister of Labor.

"Outrage" or "provocation"

Despite requests from the presidential camp, he refused to apologize on Friday, causing an uproar.

The session was suspended for the time of the meeting of the Bureau of the Assembly, the highest collegiate body, which proposed after two hours a "temporary exclusion" due to "contempt" or "provocation" . 

This disciplinary penalty, validated by a seated-standing vote in the hemicycle, entails a ban on appearing at the Palais Bourbon for fifteen days of sittings – until mid-March, therefore – and the deprivation of half of the parliamentary allowance for two months.

Thomas Portes' colleagues strongly protested.

"You are looking for the Insoumis, you will find them", launched Danièle Obono at the majority.

"We won't let anything pass. No threat, no intimidation," camped the patron saint of Renaissance deputies Aurore Bergé.

Marine Le Pen (RN), who fights like the left in retirement at 64, pointed to the "leak forward" of Nupes in her fight.

"Instrumentalized"

Thomas Portes does not budge: "I have never called for violence against the minister, a member of the government or any deputy whatsoever", he assured the press , deploring that his message was "used and instrumentalized by some".

"I will withdraw my tweet the day you withdraw your reform which will sacrifice thousands of people", had challenged the Insoumis earlier in the hemicycle. 

Debates on the bill are due to resume at 9:30 p.m., in a climate of heightened tension after a week of laborious discussions.

"What we are currently seeing (...) with our invectives, with our insults, with hubbub, (is) not worthy of the National Assembly", declared the holder of the perch, Yaël Braun-Pivet.

The boss of the Insoumis Jean-Luc Mélenchon defended his deputy on Twitter: "After the pillory for Thomas Portes, railroad deputy, Macron will ban all the upheavals in the country's celebrations".

“Finally order and good taste will reign in the mess of the macronized society”.

After the pillory for @Portes_Thomas, deputy railroad worker, #Macron will ban all upheavals in the country's celebrations.

@auroreberge also provides for the prohibition of caricatures.

Finally order and good taste will reign in the mess of the macronized society.#DirectAN

— Jean-Luc Melenchon (@JLMelenchon) February 10, 2023

Fairness measure"

Within the Nupes, if the initial message of Thomas Portes was variously appreciated, the sanction is considered far too severe.

"We contest the parallelism that has been made" with the case of Grégoire de Fournas, reacted the communist Pierre Dharréville.

The morning in the Assembly had nevertheless passed without too many pitfalls: by a relatively tight vote (181 votes against 163), the deputies validated article 1 of the bill, providing for the gradual extinction of most special diets.

With hundreds of amendments, the Nupes advocated maintaining the targeted regimes (RATP, electricity and gas industries, Banque de France, etc.).

Conversely, the presidential majority defended their removal, as a measure of "fairness".

Some 16,000 amendments remain to be discussed in one week on the 19 other articles of the text.   

"Respect"

In a rare speech, on the eve of a fourth day of demonstrations, Emmanuel Macron called on the organizers of the protest on Friday to maintain their "spirit of responsibility" so that "disagreements can be expressed, but calmly , respect for property and people, and with a desire not to block the life of the rest of the country".

The presidential intervention, since the European summit in Brussels, was not to the liking of Laurent Berger, general secretary of the CFDT: "Excuse me, but brothel, we are not responsible from the beginning?".

And to hammer: the postponement of the retirement age from 62 to 64 years arouses "a deep rejection".

The first three days of mobilization brought together, without notable incidents, between 757,000 people according to the Interior (two million according to the organizers) and 1.27 million (2.5 million). 

On Saturday, the unions hope to mobilize those who cannot strike during the week.

The police anticipate 600,000 to 800,000 demonstrators in around 240 processions.  

The inter-union has already called for two new days of action, February 16 and March 7, and is preparing for a long showdown.

The secretary general of the CGT Philippe Martinez evokes possible "harder, more numerous, more massive and renewable strikes". 

With AFP

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