Pension reform: who are the Liot MPs who want to table a cross-party motion of censure?

Gauthier Delomez with AFP 18:28 p.m., March 16, 2023

It is the smallest of the ten political groups formed in the National Assembly. The Liot group, for Libertés Indépendants Outre-mer et Territoires, has 20 MPs in its ranks and intends to play the role of catalysts against the pension reform, while article 49.3 was triggered by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. Indeed, these parliamentarians are preparing to table a transpartisan motion of censure against the bill, and it could be voted by many political figures of all stripes. So who are they?

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An independent group in the Assembly

The Libertés, Indépendants Outre-mer et Territoires group is made up of MPs from various political tendencies, mostly centre-right, but claiming a strong territorial anchorage. It is an independent group that includes elected representatives from overseas, Corsican nationalists and centrists. It was formed in 2018, during the previous legislature, under the impetus of the LREM deputy of Morbihan, Paul Molac, and it is led by Bertrand Pancher (photo), deputy of the Meuse and from the Radical Party.

As Ouest-France explains, the objective of the creation of this formation was to access the advantages available to a parliamentary group. Indeed, it makes it possible to obtain an office and a secretariat in the Assembly, to have more speaking time, a parliamentary niche per session or the possibility of creating a committee of inquiry. And while they voted for previous reforms, wanted by the majority, these MPs appear opposed to the pension bill. They have been registered in the opposition since July 2020.

The left in favour of the motion of censure of the Liot group

Now the ball is in the court of this group. The leader of the Insoumise Mathilde Panot had indicated, as a prelude to the triggering of article 49.3, that the LFI group would vote in favor of a motion of rejection, before a probable motion of censure. "We have no problem if it is Liot who carries the motion. We have already done it for a referendum motion" and "there will be no co-signatories of the RN in the transpartisan motion," she insisted. However, this does not prevent far-right elected representatives from voting for it to try to bring down the government, even though Marine Le Pen has already announced the tabling of a motion of censure.

>> READ ALSO – Pension reform: article 49.3 and the Fifth Republic, act 100

The secretary general of the French Communist Party (PCF) Fabien Roussel also announced his support for a motion tabled by Liot. Finally, could LR deputies opposed to the government project join it? The boss of the party Eric Ciotti assured Thursday that the deputies of his group would not vote any motion of censure. But MP Aurélien Pradié, at the forefront of the party's rebels, said he would "think", with several of his colleagues, to vote for one that would come neither from the RN nor from the Nupes. So it could be that of the Liot group.