Debates on pension reform drag on in the National Assembly. While the deputies only have until midnight to study the text before it goes to the Senate, will a vote on an article be possible? It is unlikely that parliamentarians will mention the retirement age. Live news.
The essential
- The debates on the pension reform are not advancing this Friday, February 17, 2023 in the National Assembly. However, it is the last day for the examination of the text by the deputies.
- The deputies still have 3,000 amendments to examine before being able to vote on article 7 of the pension reform, the one which provides for the postponement of the retirement age. The day promises to be busy and the vote on the starting age is not guaranteed.
- While the parliamentary groups accuse each other of slowing down the debates, Paul Molac (LIOT deputy), “finds that it is not up to par”.
- After more than ten days of debate slowed down by the thousands of amendments tabled by the opposition, the Nupes has let go of the ballast by withdrawing a large number of the amendments that still remained to be examined.
- Follow the debates at the Assembly live on our site with the live video LCP.
Live
12:11 – Discussions stagnate..
As since Wednesday, the deputies are still debating amendments aimed at creating an article after article 2 in order to find additional funds to finance pension funds.
11:15 – The debates “not up to par”: the rant of a deputy
During a speech at the National Assembly, Paul Molac, LIOT deputy for the 4th constituency of Morbihan, castigated the slowness of the debates: “Everyone refers article 7 to each other. There are three culprits in the fact that we cannot go to article 7. The first is the government: it chose 47.1 which makes us discuss this reform in seven days. Is it really serious? The second , it’s obviously the groups that keep a whole bunch of amendments that means that we won’t get there. The third is those that use procedural tricks to be able to delay the debates even further. I wanted let’s get to article 7. You decided that we wouldn’t get there. This little game between the majority and LFI tires me. I find that it’s not up to par.”
09:29 – Can the motion of censure of the RN succeed?
This Wednesday, February 15, the president of the RN group in the National Assembly, Marine Le Pen, tabled a spontaneous motion of censure defined by article 49.2 of the Constitution. Such a measure would overthrow the government of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. Yet such a reversal of the situation has little chance of succeeding. The motion of censure must indeed bring together the votes of the absolute majority of the members of the hemicycle, ie 289 votes. A number of votes for dismissal that could theoretically be achievable because here is the distribution of opposition deputies.
- RN: 88 deputies
- Nupes: 147 deputies
- The Republicans: 61 deputies
However, as with other motions of censure tabled by the RN during Emmanuel Macron’s second term, the other opposition groups refuse to collaborate with the RN. A question of time also prevents the debate around this measure, in fact, tabled Wednesday at 5:55 p.m., that of the RN cannot therefore be discussed before Friday, 5:55 p.m. However, the text can no longer be debated after midnight in the hemicycle due to an imposed calendar.
08:50 – The majority denounces the obstruction strategy of the Nupes
All the members of the majority throw the stone at the left which they accuse of being at the origin of the obstruction on the pension reform. The Nupes did indeed table thousands of amendments with a record for the group of La France insoumise, but before the last day the left of the debates the Nupes withdrew a large majority of the modifications to be able to debate article 7. Problem? It is too late according to the majority which counts in the strategy of obstruction as much the amendments in numbers as the incidents of meetings, which according to it were all caused by the left.
08:36 – Still thousands of amendments to review
The debates will resume where they left off: in article 3. Yet it is article 7 of the pension reform, the one which provides for the postponement of the retirement age which concentrates all the attention. The chances of arriving at this article are slim because nearly 3,000 amendments still have to be examined before this central point can be dealt with.
Learn more
Pension reform is THE major societal project carried out by Emmanuel Macron. The President of the Republic undertook, in his program, to push back the minimum age of departure to 64 (compared to 62 today) after the end of discussions on the subject in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Covid. The abolition of certain special regimes had also been promised. But who is affected by the reform? With what impact? All the explanations in our dedicated articles.
Started on Monday February 6, 2023, the examination of the amending social security financing bill for 2023 (full name of the bill in which articles on pension reform are integrated) has already enabled the adoption of two articles out of the 21 (including the introductory article) in the bill. It is the introductory articlea technical article that outlines the bill and the costed explanations, as well as Prime articlewhich provides for the abolition of special pension schemes electricity and gas industries (IEG), the Autonomous Paris Transport Authority (RATP), notary clerks and employees (CRPCEN), the Banque de France, and members of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) for agents who will be recruited from September 1, 2023.
The pension reform bill is the subject of fierce protest, both among the French and within the National Assembly. The hemicycle is split in two between the defenders and the opponents of this text, making the atmosphere electric at the Bourbon palace. While the government only has a relative majority in the lower house of Parliament, the reform carried out by Emmanuel Macron is not certain to pass easily and it could only be played with a few votes. So, how does your MP position itself vis-à-vis this text? Find out with our search engine.
For the time being, no vote on a motion, an article or an amendment related to this bill has been made in the presence of the 577 deputies. The hemicycle has never yet been truly full to decide on this text, hence the absence of a few parliamentarians in our table. It should however be noted that the elected representatives of the government majority (Renaissance, MoDem, Horizons) are in favor of the reform, that LR is divided on the subject and that the Nupes and the RN oppose it.