Pension reform: the government’s plan not to repeal the law

At the dawn of one of the last battles of the opposition, the government begins to fear the next parliamentary niche planned by the Liot group in the National Assembly. During this day when the group will be able to lead the discussions, it is, in fact, planned to table a bill, which could, if passed, repeal the pension reform. In the ranks of the executive, it is today the commotion with the implementation of a strategy to preserve this reform. What is the government’s plan?

The deputies of the Liot parliamentary group (Freedoms, Independents, Overseas and Territories) have tabled a bill to repeal the pension reform. Already authors of the motion of censure having almost led to the resignation of the government, they intend, this time, to achieve their ends during this next day of parliamentary niche in the National Assembly. During this time, the group will thus have the possibility of having this bill examined by deputies who have not had the opportunity to vote for this reform.

For the executive, this day promises to be under high tension with the fear of seeing the pension reform be repealed and thus create an unprecedented event in a five-year term. It should be remembered that the National Assembly was unable to express itself on the pension reform and reach the vote, since the government of Elisabeth Borne decided to use article 49.3 to have the text adopted.

For the executive, the chances of success of this bill are threatening. Even if the procedure is not certain to go to an end, the members of the government still fear a majority vote in the National Assembly. This would therefore sound like a disavowal of the power in place. At present, the executive intends to use Article 40 of the Constitution while threats of obstruction on June 8 are on the agenda.

In a meeting this Tuesday, May 13, the members of the executive sought a strategy to prevent the repeal of the pension reform. Targeted ? The circumvention of an “amendment to delete Article 1 […] voted by the Social Affairs Committee, with the support of some of the elected Les Républicains”. In this context, the opposition could reinsert this article in public session before being declared inadmissible by the President of the Assembly, under Article 40 of the Constitution.

Other possibilities were also mentioned and considered by the presidential majority. It is thus possible that a blocked vote is imposed or that obstruction is on the agenda. The government had already chosen this option during the text for the reintegration of caregivers examined in the parliamentary niche of insubordinate France.

The president of the Renaissance group Aurore Bergé, as well as Laurent Marcangeli (Horizons) and Jean-Paul Mattei (MoDem) have, for the time being, opposed to this option. However, it seems highly unlikely that the executive will be ready to give ground on this important issue and many twists and turns could well and truly dot this parliamentary niche day.