A form of conclave, almost episcopal, far from the hustle and bustle of the street, but with almost paroxysmal tension. This Wednesday, March 15, the pension reform carried out by Emmanuel Macron will land in a joint joint committee (CMP). Seven deputies, seven senators, and as many alternates, will negotiate at the Palais Bourbon behind closed doors. The goal ? Try to agree, on a text in a small committee, before sharing the exchanges, in the form of a final vote, first in the Senate, then in the National Assembly. Why, how, what does this change? We explain to you.
Why is the pension reform going to a joint joint committee?
A law, to enter into force, must be adopted to the comma, not the two parliamentary chambers: the National Assembly and the Senate. If, even after back and forth, the disagreement persists, then the government can request article 45 of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic. This provides for recourse to the commission, an attempt to produce consensus, when the debates in the two chambers are too divisive.
This is not the first recourse of the executive to a legislative tool since the beginning of the discussions around this reform. Since its arrival in Parliament, the text divides as much as it mobilizes in the street, and the debates skate. 20,000 amendments were thus tabled in the Assembly, including 13,000 from rebellious France, to block the adoption of the text defended by the government, which wishes in particular to push back the retirement age to 64 years old. , a particularly disputed measure. So many amendments which prevented the Assembly from voting on the entire text.
End of time. The reform has therefore since been sent to the Senate. Bis repeat? No, the Republicans seized on Article 38 of the Constitution to speed up the exchanges, making the amendments of the left pass by the wayside. And last Friday, the government appealed to Article 44.3 of the Constitution. This procedure, called “blocked vote”, obliges parliamentarians to vote for the entire text, and not article by article. The Senate therefore said yes… but the examination did not make it possible to put everyone in agreement to the comma.
Who makes up the committee?
The mission of the mixed parity committee is to find a consensus in Parliament. To do so, 7 deputies and 7 senators will debate, with their alternates. The commission must be representative of the political forces of the two chambers. There are therefore four deputies from the presidential majority: Fadila Khattabi, Renaissance president of the Social Affairs Committee, Stéphanie Rist, general rapporteur (Renaissance) for the Social Security budget and the bill, Sylvain Maillard (Renaissance), and Philippe Vigier (MoDem). Olivier Marleix will represent the LR group. Mathilde Panot la Nupes, and Thomas Ménagé the RN.
Will be sent to represent the majority of the right and center in the Senate: Catherine Deroche, LR president of the Social Affairs Committee, René-Paul Savary, LR rapporteur for the old age branch and the bill, Elisabeth Doineau, general rapporteur ( centrist) of the Social Security budget, and Philippe Mouiller (LR). Xavier Iacovelli will represent Renaissance. Monique Lubin and Corinne Féret, the left.
The composition of the joint committee.
© / The Express
In other words, the majority of the members of this commission appear to be in favor of pension reform. Still, everyone has to agree.
What are the sticking points?
The postponement of the legal age from 62 to 64, at the heart of the reform, should not move, despite the attempts of the left. The pension “surcharge” for mothers leaving at the legal retirement age, voted in the Senate with the favorable opinion of the government, should appear in the final text. Other points remain to be settled, to satisfy other LR requests and guarantee their vote on Thursday, while remaining in the financial balance of the reform.
The Republican (LR) deputies, represented by their boss Olivier Marleix, will insist that long careers do not have to contribute more than 43 years. And “the senior CDI (introduced in the Senate, editor’s note), we feel that it will be a big subject”, according to an LR source to AFP. But its scope could be restricted and the measure could even be postponed to the next bill on full employment.
The government is not represented in the CMP, but can pull the strings from behind the scenes with calls and SMS. The parliamentarians negotiate under the leadership of the presidents of the social affairs committees and the rapporteurs of the text, to erase the differences between the versions adopted in the Senate and in the Assembly.
Behind closed doors ? Not really…
The left meanwhile intends to smash the traditional “in camera” of the CMPs. The Socialist deputies first called on the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, to broadcast the meeting on video. A request denied.
The Insoumis have already warned that they will report on the debates live, in particular on social networks. Hadrien Clouet (LFI), who will sit as an alternate, warns AFP: “All the arguments that the macronists and the LRs will bring out to us will be public. They will have to assume”. A way of orienting the perception of exchanges…
What likely outcome?
Like the blockage in the country, those who simply do not want the text, and the nuances that tear those who are for it, the discussions risk being intense. Deputies and senators will try to agree article by article to reach a common text, which will be in the event of probable success submitted Thursday to the votes of the Senate and the Assembly in public session.
“If the CMP (mixed parity committee) has a common text, this text will have a majority” Thursday morning in the Senate and Thursday afternoon in the Assembly, assured Tuesday on CNews the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt. A compromise is likely, given that the Macronists and the right are in the majority there. But, nothing says that the Assembly will adopt the chosen version… Even in the event of white smoke.