In the confusion, the French National Assembly concluded Friday, February 14 at midnight, without a vote, the examination at first reading of the pension reform project, on yet another imbroglio about long careers.

The text is now expected in the Senate, on February 28 in committee, then on March 2 in the hemicycle.

The debate on Emmanuel Macron's flagship reform ended as planned at midnight sharp, due to the accelerated legislative procedure.

The deputies largely rejected a motion of censure tabled by the National Rally.

In the preamble, Marine Le Pen had denounced "a project (...) poorly carried out and poorly explained", accusing the executive of having the "objective" of "lowering" the income of retirees.

A charge challenged by Gabriel Attal, the Minister of Public Accounts.

"You have no solution to offer (...) the French see it," he accused.

In a sparse hemicycle, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne retorted that the debate had shown the faces of "two populisms", those of the far right and insubordinate France (LFI).

The culmination of two weeks of debates at best tense, at worst chaotic, Olivier Dussopt reserved his last words for the rebellious: "You insulted me for 15 days, no one cracked and we are here, in front of you, to the reform", he launched, furious. 

"In respect of the Constitution, our debates must now come to an end," says @olivierdussopt.

"The 20,500 amendments tabled by the Nupes will have prevented our Assembly from completing the examination of the text".

Deputies sing "We are here" leaving the hemicycle.

#Retreats pic.twitter.com/qWwsf0CNY6

— LCP (@LCP) February 17, 2023

"Macron in check in the Assembly. Retirement at 64 has not passed", reacted even before the end of the debates the leader of LFI Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Some LFI deputies came out singing "we are here, we are there", before deputies from the majority, the right and the RN sang a Marseillaise. 

Imbroglio on long careers

Unsurprisingly given the number of remaining amendments, mainly rebellious, and the deadline set at midnight, the debates were interrupted very far from the famous article 7 on the postponement of the legal age to 64 years. 

Throughout the evening, the discussion focused on the contribution period for retirees who can benefit from the "long career" scheme, that is to say those who entered the world of work before the age of 21.

The Prime Minister announced that the government would retain measures favorable to primary school teachers, the liberal professions, agricultural pensions, retirees in Mayotte, and "long careers".

"The government will seize the Senate of the text that it initially presented, modified by the amendments voted", then announced the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt.

Forty-three or forty-four?

The question has not been clearly resolved, despite the insistence of LR deputies, led by Aurélien Pradié, who demand that all the workers concerned can leave after 43 years of contributions, without the legal age being a barrier. 

"I will never say before the National Assembly that the contribution period would be a ceiling", declared Olivier Dussopt, considering that it would be "lying".

"We cannot come out of all this with doubts," replied Aurélien Pradié, asking for a clear position.

>> To read also: End of the debates on the pension reform in the Assembly: what now?

See you in the Senate and on the street

 The parliamentary left is divided on the strategy to adopt, environmentalists regretting to AFP "a strategic failure" of LFI.  

“I regret that a number of Nupes groups have somehow chosen to abandon their amendments, to give up the battle and to leave us alone to hold out until the end”, declared for his part the rebellious Manual Bompard. 

The unions were urging the left alliance to go through with this key article of the reform bill.

"The national assembly gives a sorry spectacle, in contempt of the workers. Shameful", reacted in the evening the general secretary of the CFDT Laurent Berger.

The latest demonstrations gathered Thursday 1.3 million people according to the CGT and 440,000 according to the Ministry of the Interior, the lowest figure since the start of the mobilization.

The unions are now waiting for the mobilization of March 7 where they threaten to put the country "at a standstill" if the government does not withdraw its reform.

The CGT, for its part, called on Friday for a renewable strike in the refineries from Monday March 6.

On the left, attention is focused on these upcoming mobilizations.

“We think of the social movement”, blows a source within the communist group.

"I hope the streak won't weaken him. In 2020 we were exhausted but proud, no."

"On March 7, we will make you bend," promised Matthias Tavel of La France Insoumise.

"The challenge is who will impose his story," said an elected Renaissance, as it seems difficult to say who from the government or the opposition emerges strengthened from this first parliamentary round.

The Senate will take up the text from February 28 in committee.

With AFP

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