The debates on the pension reform end Friday, February 17 at midnight, even though the vast majority of the texts have not been voted on.
Between the commission and the hemicycle, the deputies have at first reading a period of 20 days to examine the reform.
Arrived in committee on January 30, the text must be examined before Saturday February 18, brought back to Friday, since the Assembly does not sit on weekends.
Unprecedented situation: this is the first time that the reading of a text will be interrupted because the constitutional deadline has been reached.
In such circumstances, "the text still passes to the Senate, explains Jean-Philippe Derosier, constitutional expert and associate professor of public law. "It can be transmitted as it is to the senators, with or without the amendments adopted by the Assembly.
The government can also choose to present the articles that have been rejected by the deputies.
The text must arrive in the Senate on February 28 in committee and March 2 in session.
This second parliamentary chamber will debate the text for 15 days (ie until March 12 at midnight).
As in the National Assembly, even if the examination is not finished, the text will nevertheless leave the benches of the Senate to go to the joint joint committee
,
composed of deputies and senators, who take over, in an attempt to reconcile points of view.
At the end of these debates, the pension reform, to be adopted, will have to be voted by a majority in the Assembly and then in the Senate.
If the text does not get enough votes, a so-called "shuttle" process will begin.
The bill will go back and forth between the authorities of Parliament and amendments will be added, modified or deleted, until March 26 at the latest.
These strict deadlines are imposed by the government.
The executive has indeed chosen to pass its major reform through a bill for the amending financing of Social Security and to use article 47.1 of the Constitution to constrain the work of parliamentarians.
This article sets a 50-day deadline for voting on social security financing bills.
>> To read - Pension reform: 47.1, the government's weapon to avoid obstruction
In fact, if on March 26 at midnight, the Senate and the Assembly have not voted on the final version of the text, then the government will be able to implement the reform: either by ordinances as indicated in article 47-1 of the Constitution used by the executive.
Either by drawing article 49.3 of the Constitution to have the text adopted without a vote.
On such a flagship reform, nobody wants it in the presidential camp, for fear of being weakened.
The majority has ensured since the beginning of the debates that it will do everything to avoid it, by making some concessions to the right in particular.
Why these thousands of amendments tabled by the opposition?
The government's use of section 47.1, although authorized and framed by the Constitution, was not to the liking of the opposition.
And in particular elected officials from Nupes who saw it as a maneuver by the executive intended to shorten the parliamentary debate.
They then tabled thousands of amendments to ultimately prevent the text from being adopted.
Originally, amendments were intended to correct and develop a text.
When they are written by the hundreds, changing a simple word or number, their initial purpose is diverted to bog down parliamentary debate and give the street time to mobilize to weigh in the balance.
But the practice is risky.
"This strategy of obstruction is counter-productive because it prevents the deputies from debating the texts and eclipses the substantive debate and, ultimately, discredits Parliament," continues the lawyer.
Still, these amendments slowed down the process of reviewing the text, so much so that it took until February 10 for the deputies to finally vote on the first article of the bill.
>> To read - The relationship to work at the heart of the processions against the pension reform
What has already been voted on?
Of the 20 articles included in the bill, only two have so far been put to a vote.
Article 1, which concerns the end of special regimes, was adopted on February 10 by 181 votes (163 against).
As a reminder, the RATP, the electricity and gas industries, the Banque de France and the clerks and employees of notaries will see singularities erased from their compensation.
🇫🇷🏛 #DirectAN 🏛🇫🇷
We adopted by 181 votes against 163 article 1 of the pension reform, which puts an end to part of the special regimes.
#ReformeDesRetraites
👉 Despite the excesses and obstruction, we are moving forward, for harmony and justice among the French 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/sT1PzFui7w
– Didier Paris (@_DidierParis) February 11, 2023
Article 2, which provided for the creation of a "senior index" in companies, was rejected on February 14 by 256 votes (203 for and 8 abstentions).
In detail, companies with more than 1,000 employees should have published this index from next November – before the obligation is extended to structures with more than 300 employees from July 2024. This senior index is not definitively buried.
He could resurface in the aftermath of the parliamentary shuttle.
The National Assembly has just rejected article 2 index senior!
The counter-reform by pushing back the legal retirement age by 2 years is a factory to make seniors more precarious, the first to be fired, never hired.
Demand withdrawal!#greve16fevrier #greve7mars pic.twitter.com/6lSYYSQGeB
— Danielle Simonnet (@SimonnetDeputee) February 14, 2023
What's left to vote?
The remaining 18 items.
Articles 3, 4, 5 and 6 relate to "provisions relating to social security expenditure".
Complementary schemes, Agirc-Arrco, balance sheet, debt... this part concerns the economic side of the bill and aims to justify its long-term viability.
The government deems these four texts necessary to simplify procedures for businesses and increase efficiency.
It is on everyone's lips and on all the signs: the thorny article 7 on the retirement age has not been voted on.
“In the first paragraph, the number sixty-two is replaced by the number sixty-four,” the text suggests.
It is the main point of tension of the reform between the government and the opposition.
But article 8 on long careers, article 9 on hardship or article 10 on minimum pensions could also animate the spirits.
44:12
THE DEBATE - Pensions: the showdown continues?
New mobilization in France while waiting for March 7 © France 24
Can the debate time be extended?
Initially, the law provides for a period of 20 days for passage to first reading in the National Assembly.
But opposition deputies, notably from La France insoumise, argued for the possibility of extending the debates.
Some of them are calling for the continuation of parliamentary discussions to continue beyond Friday midnight.
This option can be considered on two conditions: first, the government must accept it if it considers that this additional time is necessary.
It is then necessary that this overtaking does not call into question the conditions of examination of the text by the Senate.
"If the executive agreed to extend the debates this weekend, it would certainly not be to continue the sterile discussions of the obstruction, opines Jean-Philippe Derosier. To do this, everyone would have to take their responsibilities. Let those who block the debate remove their obstructions by withdrawing useless amendments and at the same time, that the government and the majority grant additional time to prolong the dialogue."
>> To read - Pension reform: "Are we going to have to live to work?"
Can the motion of censure tabled by the National Rally change things?
No, answer all the specialists questioned on this subject.
The motion of censure tabled by RN deputies will be debated after midnight before the National Assembly, at the end of the debates on the pension reform project.
The Assembly's conference of presidents has recorded this schedule, which should lead to a vote on the motion around 2 or 3 a.m.
But she has no chance of passing.
"To be adopted, a motion of censure must be passed by an absolute majority of the members of the Assembly. Only the deputies in favor of the adoption of the motion of censure participate in the vote. However, it is not possible for it to collects the number of 289 votes insofar as the left has already made it known that it will not contribute its votes. And it is equally certain that the Republicans will not vote either."
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