While a Joint Joint Commission meets on Wednesday March 15 to try to agree on the text of the pension reform, French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne launched an appeal on Tuesday to right-wing deputies, and the unions continued. their strikes and actions, with contrasting situations.
An eighth day of action is scheduled for Wednesday at the call of the inter-union. If social mobilization seems to be running out of steam in some sectors, it is continuing in energy and among garbage collectors. In Paris, the latter voted to continue the strike ” at least until March 20 »: some 6,600 tonnes of waste were not collected in the capital on Tuesday 14 March.
Bins were also thrown in front of the headquarters of the presidential Renaissance party in Paris by union activists in order to “ remember that people are on strike, that people are responsible for this situation “, explained to AFP Simon Duteil, co-delegate general of Solidaires.
Shortly before, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne launched an appeal to right-wing deputieswhose votes are essential for the text, assuring them on Tuesday that a positive vote on their part on its pension reform would not be interpreted as “support for the government”.
” You will be […] led to express your views on the pension reform. Not on supporting the government, but on this project, on this project only “, affirmed the Prime Minister before the National Assembly, hammering a dozen times, in an anaphora, that” a majority exists to vote on the text.
” A majority exists, which is not afraid of reforms, even unpopular ones, when they are necessary “, she added. Before asking the opposition, in another anaphora, ” to assume “her attitude when she does” choice of obstruction “.
The call comes at the eve of Wednesday’s meeting in the Joint Joint Committee (CMP), on which the government is counting to build a compromise text. Seven deputies, seven senators and as many substitutes will then meet behind closed doors to discuss it.
► To listen too : Garbage collectors’ strike in Paris: “We need a minimum service”, according to an opposition municipal councilor
Despite the probable compromise in CMP, uncertainty in the Assembly
” If the CMP has a common text, this text will have a majority in the Senate and then in the Assembly, said the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt.
But, even if a compromise is likely within the joint commission, where the macronists and the right are in the majority, the suspense remains immense on the vote to follow on Thursday in the Assembly. This uncertainty raises the possibility that the government will trigger Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows adoption without a vote but exposes the executive to a motion of censure.
The President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet on Tuesday rejected the request of the Socialists and La France insoumise for an audio and video broadcast of the meeting of the joint commission. Its debates will therefore be the subject of a written report, but no doubt with a few days’ delay.
►Also listen: Guillaume Gontard: “Parliamentarians realize that this pension reform is hard to bear”
MPs ” spectators of something that has already been decided elsewhere »
In response, LFI should live tweet the deliberations of the conclave, several of its elected officials giving “ appointment on social media.
Parliamentarians were preparing their weapons and their arguments for the CMP. Thomas Ménagé, full member for the Rassemblement national group, admits that ” we will be partly spectators of something that has already been decided elsewhere “, between the government and the Republicans, whose voices are essential to pass its reform.
The executive has already conceded to the right a decline in the retirement age to 64, not 65, as well as an increase in small pensions extended to current retirees. Within the LR group, it is emphasized that the ” single subject will be long careers. Certain concessions on this subject made to the Republicans could disappear from the final text, warned the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, anxious to ” the balance » financing of the reform.
The opposition is preparing a cross-partisan motion of no confidence »
The Commission, ” it might be a bit long “, notes the centrist deputy of the group Freedoms, independence, overseas territories and territories (Liot) and veteran of the Assembly, Charles de Courson.
The eyes are already riveted on the day of Thursday in the Assembly, where the deputies opposed to the reform prepare a motion of total rejection of the text, if it is subjected to the vote, and a “ cross-partisan motion of no confidence against the government.
The boss of the CFDT Laurent Berger has once again warned against the consequences of a forced passage via 49.3, an option which must previously be authorized by the Council of Ministers.
Slowdown in refineries and transport, strength in energy
The movement seemed to run out of steam in refineries and certain parts of transport. Most French refineries were still on strike on Tuesday, but strikers were reluctant to shut down sites completely as stocks are almost full. For several days, the oil unions have been proposing to the refinery strikers to harden the movement against the pension reform by stopping production, but the latter are reluctant to begin these technically delicate and long operations.
Traffic will remain disrupted on Wednesday at the SNCF with in particular 3 out of 5 TGVs and difficulties in Ile-de-France. The RATP foresees slightly disrupted traffic in the Paris metro and very disrupted in the RER.
There mobilization remains quite significant in the energy sector. Cuts in production are still on the agenda in the electricity sector, which is still highly mobilized given the crucial issue for electricians and gas operators, who, in addition to the decline in the legal age, fear the abolition of their special pension scheme.
The EDF site listed Tuesday afternoon production cuts in nuclear power plants as well as in thermal power plants. In hydraulics, the EDF site indicated a ” loss of available power in progress » of 6,650 MW. Other punch actions took place, notably in Limoges, where the Enedis head office was completely blocked.
► To read also: The Council of State had expressed reservations on the pension reform