Among the centrists, Erwan Balanant (MoDem) came out "in shock" from the hemicycle, he told AFP.
"It was a mistake to make 49.3 on a text like that given the state of our democracy. We had to go to the vote, even if it meant losing. I am in shock," responded this elected representative of Finistère, evoking a situation "which is approaching the crisis of regime".
The president of the MoDem group Jean-Paul Mattei was "extremely courageous, he said at each meeting that we had to go to the vote," according to Erwan Balanant. This was also what the bosses of the allied groups Renaissance and Horizons, Aurore Bergé and Laurent Marcangeli, wore.
In a press release, the entire group of 51 MoDem MPs stressed that they had pleaded "to the end in favour of a vote".
He nevertheless "assures" the executive of "his support" after the "difficult decision" to use the constitutional weapon. This is "the only one able to guarantee the adoption of a major and essential text for the safeguarding of our pay-as-you-go pension system".
49.3, which allows a text to be adopted without a vote, "is a waste" and an "admission of weakness", also believes Richard Ramos (MoDem), the only one who was likely to abstain in his group.
Favorable to the bill, Philippe Vigier (MoDem) deplores a "huge waste", while attacking the right: "many LR" wanted to vote against the reform "only in opposition to Emmanuel Macron".
Within the Horizons group, André Villiers, one of the most reluctant to reform, believes that "it is a delayed waste" and that "in public opinion things will remain very crystallized".
At Renaissance too, some elected Macronists do not hide their incomprehension.
At a Renaissance meeting shortly before the formalization of 49.3, MPs were "stunned", according to one participant. They anticipate "the possible sequence behind".
For an official of the majority group, on condition of anonymity, "it is a crash. There needs to be a dissolution."
© 2023 AFP