A last attempt at compromise to avoid the passage in force. Unsurprisingly, the 14 parliamentarians of the joint committee (CMP) adopted, Wednesday, March 15 at the end of the day, the pension reform project. After a passage in the Assembly, where the text was only partially debated, then its approval in the Senate last weekend, the text was presented this morning to the group, composed of seven deputies and seven senators, representing the balances in both chambers and therefore mostly in favor of the reform.

While this text must be submitted Thursday to the vote of both chambers, all eyes are now turned to the National Assembly where uncertainty remains as to the vote of the Republicans, necessary for the final adoption of the text.

Twitter controversy and delay in ignition

At 9 a.m., the fourteen parliamentarians of the committee locked themselves behind closed doors, in the room of the Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly. Several dozen journalists then made the foot of crane in the room of the Four Columns, watching for the interventions of the deputies. After an hour, Thomas Ménagé opened the ball. The deputy National Rally of Loiret, member of the committee, reaffirmed his opposition to the postponement of the retirement age, which will "suffer the French" and denounced a text "tied up in advance" between the majority and The Republicans.

We are in a "CMP above ground" that unfolds as if there were no strikes in our country, denounces Mathilde Panot, LFI MP, member of the meeting of the joint committee.#pension reform#France24 pic.twitter.com/XXJcjurVw4

— david rich (@DavidRichf24) March 15, 2023

The president of the LFI group in the Assembly, Mathilde Panot, followed suit. "We are in an above-ground commission that is taking place as if there were no strikes in our country," she stressed, on this eighth day of interprofessional mobilization against the reform. The CGT counted 1.78 million demonstrators in the streets on Wednesday, while the Ministry of the Interior estimates their number at 480,000.

The elected representative, who reported on the commission's exchanges in real time on Twitter, explained that it was essential for her "to inform the people of what is happening". It had requested that the commission be made "public" in the interests of transparency. A request refused because contrary to customs.

"The CMP has always taken place behind closed doors," recalled Renaissance MP Fadila Khattabi, castigating the attitude of "some who tweet live". While at 11 a.m. the group was just beginning the analysis of the first article, the president of the Social Affairs Committee of the Assembly was keen to defend the method: "The general discussion was long, there is no stopwatch, all deputies and senators can speak". "For the moment it's not very fast, it's good, it puts a little suspense," said PS deputy Arthur Delaporte.

"The CMP has always taken place behind closed doors," says MP Fadila Khattabi (Renaissance), deploring that some members "tweet live".#F24#ReformeDesRetraites pic.twitter.com/FQeP6zsWC7

— david rich (@DavidRichf24) March 15, 2023

Nearly 230 modifications

In the early afternoon, a brief interruption of the meeting was decreed at the request of the members of the Nupes. Brandishing the 110-page document that was presented to them the same morning, elected officials castigated the many changes made by the majority to the bill, adopted Saturday, March 11 by the Senate. "In Macronia is there an opposition?" said Sandrine Rousseau, deploring a glaring lack of time to analyze the text. It contains 228 amendments, 38 of which concern Article 7 alone, on raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.

But for Xavier Lacovelli, Renaissance senator of Hauts-de-Seine, the opposition's attacks are unfounded: "These are editorial changes. If the Nupes deputies only discover the text of the reform now then, indeed, yes, it is complicated!"

Uncertainty in the Assembly

In the middle of the afternoon, the committee adopted articles 7 and 8 (on long careers) particularly criticized by the opposition. A majority of eight votes is needed while 10 of the fourteen members of the committee are in favour of reform. Unsurprisingly, the text was finally approved as a whole at the end of the day.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne welcomed the result. Proof, according to her, that it is possible to "build solutions together". The boss of the LR deputies, Olivier Marleix, member of the committee, for his part welcomed a "breakthrough" in the compromise found Wednesday, while acknowledging that some in his group "will not wish to vote" the reform.

Republicans had demanded that the bill be amended, including on the number of years they had set at a maximum of 43 for long careers. Some of its members, such as the deputy of Lot Aurélien Pradié, have made it a fundamental principle. But this principle will not apply to all French people according to the final text, strongly denounced the members of the opposition. "Some will have to work until the age of 44," lamented LFI MP Hadrien Clouet. "The Republicans sold themselves for nothing. Now we will see what happens in the Assembly."

The majority needs 289 votes to pass the bill in the Assembly. A figure that could change depending on absences and abstentions. The government hopes to obtain the support of 35 to 40 LR deputies, without any real certainty at this stage.

>> Read also: The Republicans, new left wing of Macronia?

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