Pensions and 49.3: false good news for LR

Pensions and 493 false good news for LR

Not seen not caught. Republicans can observe with relief the outcome of the examination of the pension reform in the National Assembly. By activating Article 49.3 of the Constitution, for lack of a certain majority, the government did not expose the fractures of the right. But like an ostrich with its head buried in the sand as danger approaches, LR will not escape scrutiny after a disastrous collective streak.

It’s fair game: the right makes the executive responsible for the use of the constitutional weapon. “The use of 49.3 is the failure of several years of policies and a method which has not resulted in finding a majority”, launched this Thursday March 16 the boss of LR Éric Ciotti. The deputy of the Alpes-Maritimes barely recognizes “different positions” within his group. The culprit is always the other.

A modest veil over divisions

This “failure” actually has two advantages for the right. The first is collective. Nearly 30 LR deputies approved the text, more than 20 rejected it. The absence of a vote puts a modest veil on these divisions. The management of LR has every opportunity to highlight the doubts of part of the majority, and to recall that an internal vote has been organised: on February 14, the political bureau of LR voted almost unanimously in favor of raising the legal age to 64. “Move around, there is nothing to see”, will dare the most daring.

The second advantage is individual. Several LR deputies in favor of the reform secretly hoped for this passage in force. Supporting an unpopular text when you belong to the opposition does not make you dream. The return to the constituency promised to be painful. “It bothers me to vote for this text in full inflation and to help Macron, confided this Thursday a deputy, photo of a demonstration in front of her permanence in support. I prefer a 49.3 to a vote with a weak majority. I I am brave, but not reckless.” Another even confided on Monday his temptation to opt for abstention in the event of an ultra-tight vote. “It suits those who wanted to vote for”, slice the deputy Maxime Minot.

“There is nothing that binds some of this group anymore”

This painting is cracking fast. Admittedly, no vote was taken. But no doubt is allowed: it is indeed the fractures of the right that have made the use of 49.3 inevitable. LR, opposition party, points to the missing voices of the majority? Good for him. This reform has been at the heart of its ideological DNA for decades.

The 61 LR deputies did not consolidate a majority for a text that they would have adopted without qualms if Valérie Pécresse was staying at the Elysée. Who imagines the RN tearing itself apart over national preference or LFI over the rise in the minimum wage? “There is no longer anything that binds some of this group, loose a deputy. But a duck with its head cut off can continue to walk for a long time.” Pragmatic, MP Michèle Tabarot considers it necessary to establish better “group discipline”, when the elected representative of Savoie Émilie Bonnivard wants to believe it: “There is a majority desire to meet after retirement.” A wishful thinking.

Failure for Eric Ciotti

The sequence finally makes two victims: Olivier Marleix and Éric Ciotti. The two men brokered a deal with the government, wrung multiple concessions from it, but failed to get a clear majority of the group on board. “They are weakened vis-à-vis their bargaining power with the government. Borne may not invite them back immediately,” notes a deputy. To instruct their exclusive trial would be unfair: the LR group is more the sum of individuals than the rugby pack. The popular and rural electorate of the deputies did not push them to approve the reform. It is not certain that others would have done better than these two feathered hats.

But this failure is theirs. Olivier Marleix is ​​criticized internally for his managerial shortcomings. Several deputies believe that they were not associated with the approach of the management of LR, following in the press the progress of the negotiations. Just elected president of LR, Éric Ciotti confided to L’Express at the end of December: “The pensions will be a very strong introduction. We will have a requirement for unity between the Senate, the deputies, the Party, but also a requirement for ‘unity in the group at the Assembly.’ It missed.

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