The examination by some 70 MEPs of the Social Affairs Committee, starting at 9.30 am, is a first round for this text carried by the independent group Liot (Freedoms, Independents, Overseas, Territories), before its arrival on 8 June in the hemicycle. But each side is already hoping to score decisive points.

Because despite the low chances that this initiative has of succeeding on the legislative level, it maintains the flame of opponents of the reform, before a new day of mobilization on June 6.

And it embarrasses the executive, worried about the political impact of a possible repeal of the text by the National Assembly, just a few weeks after the promulgation, mid-April, of this highly contested law.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne leaves the Elysee Palace, in Paris, on May 30, 2023 © Alain JOCARD / AFP

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne once again attacked the oppositions on Tuesday, accusing them of lying to the French "by carrying, with the greatest demagoguery, a text that everyone knows here, well, that it would be censored by the Constitutional Council".

"We will unite" to counter this bill, promised the leader of the Macronist deputies of the Renaissance group, Aurore Bergé.

"Serious harm"

With her allies Horizons and Modem, she qualified as "serious damage" to the institutions the decision of the president of the Finance Commission, Eric Coquerel (La France insoumise), to declare Liot's bill "admissible".

According to the executive, repealing the pension reform would cost more than €15 billion.

However, article 40 of the Constitution provides that a bill must not create a public office.

But Mr. Coquerel invoked "the rights of oppositions" and a "commonly accepted practice" of not blocking parliamentary texts as such.

French MP for La France Insoumise (LFI) and the left-wing NUPES coalition Eric Coquerel (l) speaks with LFI MP Alexis Corbiere (r) at the National Assembly in Paris, May 30, 2023 © Alain JOCARD / AFP

The presidential camp has not given up and devised a plan to counter Liot's bill.

He hopes to succeed in removing the article of abrogation of the 64-year-old on Wednesday in committee, where the balance of power seems more favourable to him than in the hemicycle.

If it succeeds, the Liot Group would be forced to reintroduce its measure by an amendment before 8 June.

A scenario that would allow the President of the Assembly to brandish the knife of financial admissibility herself, and thus prevent a vote in the hemicycle.

"I will take responsibility," Renaissance member Yaël Braun-Pivet said Tuesday after being criticized in her own camp for not blocking earlier.

"The courage to lose"

For this multi-band billiards stunt to succeed, the majority is counting on the promise of the leaders of the Republicans to lend him a hand on Wednesday.

"I think that the majority of LR deputies do not want to participate in this joke that is this bill," said the leader of the right-wing group, Olivier Marleix, while the left and Liot hope that some LR will lend them a hand.

"We will not let the executive muzzle national representation," warned the four groups of the left-wing coalition Nupes, promising to use "all possible means" to retaliate against the presidential camp. They organize a rally near the Palais Bourbon at 13:00.

The leader of the Green deputies, Cyrielle Chatelain, addresses the government at the National Assembly in Paris, May 30, 2023 © Alain JOCARD / AFP

For the leader of the ecologist deputies, Cyrielle Chatelain, "the support of the government has two options (...): either obstruct or lose". "I tell them +have the courage to lose and face the vote of the National Assembly +".

Marine Le Pen's RN group has planned to support the repeal text "in the face of attempts to scuttle Macronia".

Bertrand Pancher, leader of Liot, appealed Tuesday to Emmanuel Macron, in a letter where he denounces the "maneuvers" of the presidential camp. "We ask you, responsibly, to let the deputies vote and to respect the democratic fact," he wrote to the head of state.

© 2023 AFP