The Parliament will again speak on the pension reform, but first the joint joint committee must meet on Wednesday March 15 to come up with a new version of the text to try to obtain a majority of the votes.
If the National Assembly did not vote for the pension reform, the Senate adopted the text on the evening of March 11. But the parliamentary game is not over yet and he is preparing for a decisive week. The Joint Joint Committee (CMP) is due to meet on Wednesday March 15 to, perhaps, redefine the contours of the text for the new votes of deputies and senators. The government version of the text should not be altered too much because of the 14 parliamentarians summoned to the CMP (7 deputies and 7 senators), 10 are in favor of adopting the text as it stands. The fact remains that if the executive wants to see its reform voted on in the National Assembly, an agreement in the CMP on a new common version of the text seems essential and this agreement must be reached before March 26.
Wednesday March 15: start of the joint committee
The fate of the pension reform is in the hands of the joint committee. If an agreement is reached on a new text – which may contain additional or modified articles and be deprived of the provisions initially planned – then a new vote in the Senate will follow and then a final ballot in the National Assembly, from Thursday March 16. If the two chambers express themselves in favor of the text, the votes will be worth final adoption of the text. But in the most likely hypothesis, obtaining a majority in the National Assembly promises to be difficult for the executive despite an agreement at the CMP. The absence of a majority in the National Assembly will also pose a problem for the government if no agreement is reached in committee.
At the end of the CMP, the government will have two solutions: gather an absolute majority of 287 votes at the Bourbon Palace – it only has 188 according to the counter of BFM TV – or resort to 49.3 at the risk of arousing the ire of politicians and the French. Aware of the risks and the counter-productivity of using 49.3, the executive assures that he does not want to go that far but will he keep his word if he finds himself at an impasse? It should be noted that even without this parliamentary weapon, the executive will be able to push its reform past the 50-day period of debate, i.e. March 26, thanks to article 47.1 of the Constitution.
The joint parliamentary committee made up of 14 parliamentarians respects the distribution and balance of forces present in the chambers. As for the deputies summoned, 4 are part of the majority (3 Renaissance and 1 MoDem) and 3 represent the opposition (LR, LFI and RN) but the Republicans Olivier Marleix is likely to support the text. As for the senators, 5 are in favor of the reform (3 LR, 1 UDI and 1 Renaissance) while 2 elected PS oppose the text.
An adoption “from the summer”?
The entry into application of the pension reform will depend on the end of its legislative journey and any appeals filed. In the event of a referral to the Constitutional Council, this could postpone its promulgation by a few days or weeks. Emmanuel Macron, he had indicated that he wanted an establishment “from the summer”.
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.