Pensions: who is the deputy Charles de Courson, who could bring down the government?

Ophélie Artaud 14:57 p.m., March 19, 2023, modified at 15:47 p.m., March 19, 2023

Charles de Courson knows the corridors of the National Assembly by heart. He has been surveying them since 1993, when he was first elected Member of Parliament for La Marne. Relatively unknown to the general public, the centrist parliamentarian made headlines this week, when Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne triggered the 49.3 to pass without a vote the pension reform in the Assembly. "A denial of democracy," he reacted on France news, adding that "it is inadmissible to use the 49.3 and set fire to the country."

Opposed to the text on the pension reform and especially to the passage in force of the government, Charles de Courson, who is part of the parliamentary group Liot (Freedoms, independents, Overseas, territories), is at the origin of the motion of transpartisan censure against the government, which will be voted this Monday in the National Assembly. Europe 1 paints a portrait of this MEP like no other.

Thirty years of the National Assembly

If Charles de Courson joined the National Assembly thirty years ago, and is now the dean in terms of longevity, it is not for nothing. The elected representative is the descendant of a family of parliamentarians, who have been a member of the National Assembly since 1789. While one of his ancestors voted for the death of King Louis XVI in 1793, his father was resistant, and his grandfather opposed granting full powers to Marshal Pétain.

>> READ ALSO – Pensions: with the filing of two motions of censure, the elected Republicans at the heart of the covetousness

A senior civil servant, Charles de Courson is a graduate of the École supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales and the ENA. In 1983, he joined the Court of Auditors, before joining the cabinet of the Minister of Industry Alain Madelin in 1986. He then joined the National Assembly in 1993, and has never left it until today. A specialist in public finances, the centrist deputy of the Marne is even nicknamed "the soldier monk" by his colleagues at the Palais Bourbon.

Opposed to Macron and pension reform

In 2013, he became known by becoming the president of the commission of inquiry into the Cahuzac affair, then, in 2016, was one of the few right-wing elected officials to oppose the deprivation of nationality after the Bataclan attacks. Opposed to Macronia, Charles de Courson participated in the creation of the Liot group during the last legislative elections. If he had run to become president of the finance committee last summer, the elected finally gave up, in favor of the candidate of the France Insoumise Eric Coquerel.

>> READ ALSO – Pension reform: can the transpartisan motion of censure succeed?

Usually discreet, Charles de Courson has frontally opposed the pension reform in recent weeks. Until the tabling of this motion of censure, which the deputies of the Nupes and the National Rally intend to vote, and which could bring down Elisabeth Borne and her government.