The political battle is not (yet) over for opponents of pension reform. The bill to repeal the reform presented by the Liot group of deputies will be in the Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly on May 31, before its examination in the Chamber on June 8.
Supported by the left, the independent group Liot intends to “get out of the top” of the “very serious social and political crisis” in progress, by this text registered in their reserved day, called “parliamentary niche”.
The majority groups (Renaissance, MoDem, Horizons) will meet on Tuesday May 16 to collectively make a decision on the strategy to adopt, according to the Politico Playbook Paris newsletter and AFP. A tactic of the majority, aiming to prevent going to the vote, is not excluded.
An impact on finances of 15 billion euros per year?
For a few days, certain ministers and executives of the majority have indeed been wondering whether they cannot nip this bill in the bud and thus prevent its examination on June 8. The weapon at their disposal? Article 40 of the Constitution. According to this article, “proposals and amendments formulated by members of Parliament are not admissible when their adoption would result in either a reduction in public resources, or the creation or aggravation of a public charge”.
“For me there is no ambiguity as to the PPL of the Liot group, this would cause a reduction in state resources for 15 billion euros at the very least”, advance to Echoes the general budget rapporteur, Jean-René Cazeneuve (Renaissance). This Friday, May 12, on Europe 1, the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt also ruled that the Liot group’s bill has an impact on public finances of “15 billion euros per year”, he said. . “How do we finance this? We let the deficits slip away? We dig into the debt? We save money elsewhere? said the minister.
As of Tuesday, the deputies of the Liot group called on the presidential camp not to make “obstruction” in the National Assembly to prevent a vote. “We warn the government, the President of the Republic and the relative majority on the really grotesque and ridiculous nature of an obstruction”, launched in front of journalists Bertrand Pancher, the president of this group of twenty elected officials, who addressed an “open letter” in this sense to Emmanuel Macron.
Several leaders of the majority believe, however, that their interest is to go to the vote, in particular to force Les Républicains to position themselves on the pension reform. For his part, Eric Coquerel, Chairman of the Assembly’s Finance Committee, wants a debate to take place. “I haven’t thought about it yet, but when a proposal arrives supported by Charles de Courson, a budget expert, I tend to think that there are arguments in favor of its financial admissibility, says to Echoes the deputy La France insoumise. If Article 40 is invoked to censor this PPL, I will seek the legal arguments so that the debate can take place.”
“A disappointment machine”
As Politico specifies, in application of article 89.4 of the rules of the Assembly, the deputies as well as the government will have the possibility of requesting a review of the financial admissibility of the text. This is not automatic for a bill.
A legal battle could take place. As reminded The echoes, it fell first, in theory, to the Bureau of the National Assembly to examine whether Article 40 could be invoked at the time of the filing of the proposal. But it has been accepted for several years that the office should not invoke this article 40 and should leave it to the deputies to do so in session. During the office of the Finance Committee, Wednesday, May 11, Eric Coquerel and Jean-René Cazeneuve clashed to find out who had the hand in the matter.
In the meantime, the government is stepping up its attacks on the bill to repeal the pension reform presented by the Liot deputies. This is “in reality a disappointment machine”, declared Olivier Dussopt. According to the Minister of Labour, “it is a text which does not offer any solution”. He considered it very unlikely that the text would be voted on in Parliament. “If it passes, the text goes to the Senate and there will be no majority to adopt it,” he added, recalling that the Senate had voted for the pension reform.
For her part, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne considered that it is “rather irresponsible on their part to suggest that their approach will make it possible to reverse the pension reform”. This bill is “a way of attracting light by not telling the truth to the French,” she told the press on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, on the plane taking her to Reunion.