Make no mistake about it: the red armchairs in the hemicycle only look cozy. There is certainly the use: the desks which slam, the “oh”, the “ha” and the cries of orfray which flutter louder on both sides of the semi-circle. But since the highly contested pension reform entered the amphitheater of the National Assembly, the violence of the parliamentary fight has taken a few more degrees.
It is Minister Olivier Dussopt whom the rebellious deputy of Hauts-de-Seine Aurélien Saintoul describes as “murderer”. It is Thomas Portes who proudly displays himself, tricolor scarf on his shoulder, his foot on a ball bearing the effigy of the same Dussopt. It was Louis Boyard who exploded when a Renaissance deputy asked him to calm down at the end of a session: “What’s the matter with you? Come! Come!”
At the ball of “bordélisation” – the expression is of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin – France insubordinate leads the dance. “At 17, the rebellious deputies were already able to make a lot of noise, but at 70… It’s something”, mocks a socialist senator, an observer who is as distant as he is perplexed by the spectacle offered by the lower house. The unions, too, sighed in annoyance. Laurent Berger (CFDT) denounced a “lamentable” circus, contrary to the “dignity” of the demonstrators. Nothing astonishing on behalf of this reformer, murmur the rebellious ones who never carried it in their heart. More surprising, however, to see Philippe Martinez, of the turbulent CGT, follow in his footsteps and demand that the deputies get to work.
“I will never give up in front of the bourgeois”
Because it is the Nupes which has the most to lose in the little game of parliamentary shambles. Faced with the anger caused by the tweet of Thomas Portes, Thursday, February 9, some rebellious oils, including Manuel Bompard and Mathilde Panot, assured Olivier Faure and Boris Vallaud, the boss of the socialist group in the Assembly, that the deputy would remove his tweet during the day. Nothing came of it, especially since the intervention of a certain Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who denounced “a grotesque subject” and defended Portes, reinforced his agitating deputies. The next day, in front of the bronca of the majority, the right and the RN who summon him to apologize, Thomas Portes sinks, straight into his boots. “I will never give up in front of the bourgeois,” he blurted out as he left the hemicycle to his dumbfounded Nupes allies.
“Don’t let go”, such is the line of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his closest lieutenants within the LFI group in the Assembly. “You can be firm without falling into invective, you can impose yourself without the brouhaha and the ad hominem”, underlined the deputy PS Jérôme Guedj in front of Manuel Bompard. And to lament: “We’re not here to do the guards … There is a disagreement that persists on the form.”
Trafalgar shot
A disagreement that affects not only the form, but also the strategy. Before the text of the reform arrives in the hemicycle, the Nupes had signed an agreement that was tacit to say the least: yes to the amendments, but no excess. A press release is even signed by the hand of all the left-wing parties: “We could have tabled as many amendments as the number of lives that this reform will destroy, but we hope that the heart of this reform, the postponement of the legal retirement age at 64 provided for in article 7 of the bill, be addressed in our discussions.” This was without counting the Trafalgar coup of the rebellious group which hastened to table no less than 13,000 amendments. “That wasn’t the plan… You know, not all draft dodgers are reliable,” laments a communist.
Even within the rebellious group, the tactics of mavericks and hardliners no longer work. If there are on one side the faithful executors of Mélenchon’s will, there is, on the other, the skepticism of a group composed, among others, of François Ruffin, Clémentine Autain, Éric Coquerel, Alexis Corbière and Raquel Garrido. They don’t approve of Portes’ tweet, let alone Saintoul’s words. “It’s less and less monolithic with them”, observes a socialist who distributes the roles: “the hardest thing is Manuel Bompard. It’s the voice of Mélenchon. Mathilde Panot (leader of the LFI group, editor’s note) , she’s into modulation. It’s not easy for her every day.”
Who is “messing”? Who’s obstructing? Make no mistake, if the Nupes bickers over strategy, the majority is just as amused by this little game of parliamentary disorder. In the government, it has been made into a weapon that is just as harmful to the debate, refusing to debate on weekends, refusing the Socialists their request to move their parliamentary niche and making use of article 47-1 which limits the time for debates . “We are the convenient scapegoat for those who do not want to move forward,” wants to believe Arthur Delaporte, Socialist MP for Normandy. Friday, February 17, the pension reform will leave the National Assembly for the so polished hemicycle of the Senate but the rebellious eloquence, it will not calm down anytime soon.