What if time was the best of allies? It took five days for article 1 of the pension reform bill to be voted on. Next Friday February 17 at midnight, the examination of the text will be finished, whether it is voted on or not. Hence this question that hovers over all the benches of the hemicycle: article 7, the one that aims to push back the legal retirement age from 62 to 64, the real totem of this reform, will it be he only discussed? An article 7 around which a strange merry-go-round has begun. A fool’s game even, hidden, far from the theater of the debates with its share of invectives, reminders of the rules and slamming desks.
Union pressure
“Going as far as the vote on article 7, we are opposed to it. It is a big danger, blows an eminence grise of La France insoumise. If we vote and the macronists win, they will be able to say that the movement in the rue must stop and is no longer relevant since the national representation has spoken. If Macron loses, he will use 49-3 on this article…” The result is not very different: Nupes will lose in the hemicycle and this will weaken its position in the eyes of the inter-union, which has managed to gather more than a million people in the streets, twice since January.
An inter-union which does not seem to flinch. Laurent Berger (CFDT) and Philippe Martinez (CGT) have thus demanded two things from the deputies of the left. They want time, first, to intensify the movement until March 7, date of the next mobilization. They then want elected officials to discuss article 7 – without obviously voting for it – in order to better put pressure on these few Renaissance and LR deputies who doubt their vote. “Discussing Article 7 means pushing them to take a position on the age measure. We will see who assumes when it is necessary to return to the constituency under the popular anger of their constituents…”, predicts a socialist deputy. Every vote counts, an abstention by a member of the majority is seen and has everything of a victory for the opposition. Thus, the CFDT as the CGT reserve the right to “overmobilize” their troops in the constituencies of these hesitant deputies, to increase the pressure.
“We make sure to remain the masters of the clocks”
The left has therefore adapted its strategy to help the unions. Rather than blocking, the Insoumis say they prefer “agility”: “We make sure to remain the masters of the clocks.” When clause 7 goes too far because of endless debates, then we have to speed up and we send a deputy to withdraw dozens and dozens of amendments. Agility has other advantages, especially when a victory (the rejection of an article, the vote on an opposition amendment, etc.) is on the horizon. “We must be able to sometimes speed up and sometimes slow down, reveals an LFI executive. Emmanuel Macron will not give up any ground but we can push his deputies to make mistakes”. And the same to continue, recalling the iron rule: “the important thing is not to go to the vote on Article 7.”
The risk is just as great for the majority. To find oneself in the minority, at a given moment, is to energize Nupes. Se finding a minority at the time of article 7 would be a downright defeat. “We are attentive to all low blows,” said a member of the government particularly involved in the review of the reform. Aurore Bergé, the president of the Renaissance group, does not say anything else but refuses to mention the slightest group strategy concerning a refusal of an obstacle on article 7. “When you are a parliamentarian, you assume your positions, you are responsible , and we vote!”, insists the deputy of Eure-et-Loir, Guillaume Kasbarian.
And yet, a vote for Article 7 would not necessarily help the affairs of all his colleagues in the majority, in particular those in the constituencies of “peripheral France” which have seen the number of demonstrators increase as never before. For them, the pressure is growing. They are more discreet, especially in the media which they prefer to avoid as they have little desire to take up arms to defend a reform which no longer really convinces them. With a smile, one of them lets go: “I’m not saying that I don’t want to go to the vote on Article 7, I’m just saying that the accelerated reform procedure suits me perfectly.”
Cursed article 7! “Everyone is afraid of it, observes a Renaissance deputy. Even the LRs do not want to be accountable for this development.” The right is indeed observing this vote with apprehension. After the agreement reached between Éric Ciotti and Élisabeth Borne, the divisions of the Republicans (LR) burst into the open. Part of the group, often from rural or popular constituencies, rejects the government copy. How many are they ? The management of the group counts a dozen, the refractory say they are more numerous. “The last few days have made it possible to find a common position, even we are not going to demand the vote on article 7 from all the roofs”, reassures a close friend of Olivier Marleix, boss of the LR group. On the left, on the right as in Macronie, it is definitely very urgent to wait.