On the sixth effective day of the debates in the Assembly, the deputies must return to their desks in the afternoon to continue the examination of article 2 of this very disputed reform concerning in particular the establishment of an index in companies to combat senior unemployment.

But, after a new incident on Monday involving the LFI deputy Aurélien Saintoul who called the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt an "impostor" and a "murderer" before apologizing, the debates continue to skate.

The fault, according to the presidential majority but also the right and the far right, to the "strategy of obstruction" assumed by the left and particularly the group of La France insoumise.

Some 14,000 amendments remain to be considered.

"Alcohol-free beers"

On Monday, the allies of Nupes (LFI, PS, PCF, EE-LV) announced the withdrawal of "a thousand" of them to make progress on Article 2. But it would be necessary to withdraw "almost 9,000" for arrive at article 7 devoted to the decline of the legal age of retirement to 64 years instead of 62 today, estimated Tuesday the president of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet (Renaissance).

This point, which crystallizes the debates and has several times attracted more than a million people to the streets at the call of united unions, risks never being debated in the hemicycle.

While every day arouses its controversy, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne asked Monday that "the debates be held on the merits and not in invective".

For the deputy National Rally (RN) Jean-Philippe Tanguy, LFI is responsible for the delay caused by amendments and controversies.

"We are not talking about people's lives and the reform" rejected by his group, he regretted.

"We sell non-alcoholic beers, we make tofu steaks (...), we want deputies who do not table amendments?", got carried away the rebellious deputy Alexis Corbière Tuesday on Europe 1.

The deputy of France Insoumise Alexis Corbière attends a meeting of the NUPES against the pension reform project, January 17, 2023 © Thomas SAMSON / AFP / Archives

He accused the government of "turning it around", forcing a "narrative" of obstruction.

"But the reality is that it is they who do not want to discuss (...) because they are a minority in society".

"Last Summons"

Be that as it may, and even if voices at LFI are dissonant, its partners as well as the unions are increasingly pressing to withdraw new amendments.

But the boss of the group Mathilde Panot refused to commit to it, defending "a strategy of moving parliamentary resistance" and asking the government to prolong the debates in the Assembly instead.

It's not on the agenda.

According to a parliamentary source, at the end of the debates, it is a mixed commission of senators and deputies who would hold the key to the vote.

If agreed, a compromise text will be submitted for approval by the Assembly on March 16.

In the immediate future, the presidential majority will be faced with another challenge: a fifth day of action organized on Thursday at the call of the eight main unions before a news on March 7, after the school holidays, which could trigger renewable strikes .

"We must maintain this pressure of public opinion on the government but also on the deputies", explained Monday the secretary general of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, Laurent Escure (Unsa) evoking "a last summons".

The numbers one of the inter-union (CFDT-CGT-FO-CFE-CGC-CFTC-Unsa-Solidaires-FSU) will parade in Albi, symbol of this France of small towns very mobilized against the reform.

In Paris, the demonstration will leave Bastille in the direction of the Place d'Italie.

After 963,000 demonstrators, according to the authorities, more than 2.5 million according to the unions on Saturday, the crowd should be lower on Thursday "with two zones on vacation", according to Simon Duteil (Solidaires).

Strike calls have been launched at the SNCF and the RATP.

© 2023 AFP