The Liot bill not debated? "We wonder what Parliament is for," says Bertrand Pancher

Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: GAUTHIER BEDRIGNANS / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 21:32 pm, June 03, 2023

It is through a proposal emptied of its substance that the pension reform will reappear at the Palais Bourbon next Thursday. Last week, the Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly rejected the main article of the bill of the group Freedoms, Independents, Overseas and Territories (Liot) which provided for the repeal of the postponement of the legal retirement age to 64 years. A show of hands that buried the hopes of the parliamentary group to cancel the most divisive measure of this pension reform. Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of the National Assembly, even indicated last Thursday, on Europe 1, that the text had a "low chance" of being placed on the agenda on June 8. In other words, it may not be debated in the Chamber.

Such a scenario would arouse a certain wrath in the ranks of the Liot group. Notably at the deputy of the Meuse, Bertrand Pancher, interviewed this Saturday on Europe 1. "It's not quite about pensions anymore. It is clear that we are entering a serious institutional crisis if the President of the National Assembly does not defend Parliament by ensuring that our bill can be debated," he denounced at the microphone of Pierre de Vilna.

"This would be a precedent of extreme gravity"

And to continue by summoning a historical argument. "I will remind your listeners that, since the beginning of the Fifth Republic, all the bills of parliamentarians have been debated and it would be a precedent of extreme gravity not to do so." To justify his position, Yaël Braun-Pivet invoked Article 40 of the Constitution, which prohibits parliamentarians from creating or increasing a public office. In this case, the bill of the Liot group would be "constitutive of a burden" for public finances, according to the boss of the Hemicycle.

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A "completely crazy" argument, says Bertrand Pancher. "This would mean that, when you are an MP, you can no longer present a bill because there are financial implications. It's never been seen," he insists. The MP then lists what he considers to be "obstruction measures" used by the government during parliamentary debates on pension reform. "They said it was a finance law - when it was questionable - and therefore limited in time. Then a blocked vote in the Senate, after a 49.3... All this was legal but frankly not exemplary in terms of democracy (...) one wonders what the purpose of Parliament," he said.

Next week will therefore see the pension reform return to the front of the stage since 48 hours before the arrival of this bill in Parliament, will take place a 14th day of mobilization. According to information from Europe 1, between 400,000 and 600,000 demonstrators are expected throughout France.