The National Assembly rejected on Monday March 20 by nine votes the first of two motions of censure against the French government on its pension reform project, the one likely to collect the largest number of votes. The second motion of censure, filed by the National Rally, was also rejected. Elisabeth Borne went to the Élysée on Monday evening just after the final adoption of the pension reform. A reform still contested in the street.
This first cross-party motion received 278 votes out of the 287 needed. The second motion, tabled by the National Rally, received only 94 votes. After the rejection of the two motions, the pension reform is considered as definitively adopted.
Yaël Braun-Pivet, the President (Renaissance) of the Assembly announces the result of the vote of the motion of cross-partisan censure of the Liot group
It was very fair for the government: 278 votes for censorship while the absolute majority was 287. This is beyond what even the depositaries of the motion hoped for, who told RFI that they hoped to reach 275. This means that on the right side, especially at Les Républicains, there were around twenty deputies who voted censure out of the 61 deputies in the group, while the LRs were supposed to support the text at the start, reports Aurelien Devernois political service. With this result, it is estimated that the situation is more than ever untenable for Emmanuel Macron and for the government.
What will happen now? First, appeals will be filed with the Constitutional Council by the oppositions in the National Assembly and the Senate. The National Rally, for example, will file its appeal this Tuesday, March 21 to the Constitutional Council. Among the arguments,he fact that the government has chosen to carry out this pension reform through a budget text, but also the way in which the Constitution and the regulations of the two chambers have been used to constrain the debate, the Constitutional Council will also have to rule on the popular initiative referendum that the left and ecologists want to organize on this reform. And then the 2nd front is of course the mobilization in the street. There could be rallies tonight, but the big day will be Thursday.
All eyes were on the LR deputies today
All eyes were on this Monday, March 20, towards the Republican deputies. Last week, they were six or seven to want to vote the transpartisan motion tabled by the Liot group against the government. They were about ten this morning. It was necessary that around thirty LR deputies, or half of the group, take the plunge against the advice of the leadership of their party. The risk was therefore very low for the government.
The first speaker at the rostrum of the Assembly, the deputy Charles de Courson of the independent group Liot castigated “ injustice » of the pension reform project and pinned down the « denial of democracy » represented by 49.3.
At the podium, the boss of the LR deputies, Olivier Marleix, making the observation of a fractured France, denounced on the one hand the absence of dialogue from the government, on the other hand the attitude of those who, favorable to a motion of censure, would be unable to agree to ” rebuild “.
In the morning, the LR deputy for Lot, Aurélien Pradié, announced that he would vote in favor of the cross-partisan censure motion. Just like Pierre-Henry Dumont, LR deputy from Pas-de-Calais, who at the microphone of RFI assumed the vote of the motion of censure tabled by the Liot group.
I will vote for the cross-partisan censure motion. In responsibility.
We cannot allow our country to fracture further, our democracy to weaken.
We need a salutary electroshock. To bring the country together. pic.twitter.com/5pov17X2I1
— Aurelien Pradie (@AurelienPradie) March 20, 2023
Riding Pressure
The weekend had however visibly made several deputies think, questioned this morning by RFI. ” I was shaken in my constituency “, confided a deputy Les Républicains to RFI. Shaken by voters who have not digested the passage in force of the government. “ The people I met this weekend almost all asked me to sanction the government “says another parliamentarian.
Pressure from voters and pressure from other parties: Jordan Bardella, the boss of the National Rally, outright promised LR deputies who would vote for censure not to present RN candidates against them in the event of dissolution. And then Republicans were inundated with emails all weekend calling on them to censor the government, emails from Nupes voters.
Throughout France, mobilizations continued this weekend against the reform. The ring road was blocked in Rennes in the west of the country on Monday March 20. Refineries are also shut down. Moreover, the students of the Sorbonne in Paris voted to occupy one of the sites of their university.
► To read also: Pension reform in France: deputies facing motions of censure, the government waiting