On the eve of the mobilization in the street, the deputies flocked to the committee on Monday for the examination of the highly contested pension reform project, with opposition increasingly raised in the face of the unfailing firmness displayed by the government.
The sixty or so parliamentarians from the Social Affairs Committee are working, article by article, on the text which provides for a decline in the legal age from 62 to 64 and an acceleration of the extension of the contribution period, before the test. in the hemicycle from February 6 on the flagship reform of Macron’s second five-year term.
The elected representatives of the Nupes left alliance came in large numbers, so much so that some had to settle between LR and RN, for lack of places on the left. “Many of us want to co-construct”, launched the Insoumis Hadrien Clouet, sparking laughter in the room.
Socialist Arthur Delaporte immediately asked for “additional days” of the exam, which ends Wednesday evening. Some 7,000 amendments were tabled, including 6,000 by the left.
The tight deadlines are imposed by the vector chosen by the executive, a draft amending budget of the Sécu, which limits to fifty days in total the debates in Parliament.
Since Sunday, the tone has gone up a notch in the political class after Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne assured that the postponement of the retirement age was “no longer negotiable”, while the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin accused the Nupes of wanting to “border the country”.
From her stronghold of Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), the patron saint of deputies RN Marine Le Pen warned: the Prime Minister “should not go too far, because, gone as it is gone , it is not at all impossible that his pension reform will not be voted on”.
LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard criticized Elisabeth Borne for “bombing his chest”, while LR executive vice-president Aurélien Pradié criticized his “chin blow”.
– Chin thrust –
Monday, it is the secretary general of the CFDT Laurent Berger, who warned on France 2 Ms. Borne, who “cannot remain deaf to this formidable mobilization which has been created”.
The exchanges could be particularly tense on Tuesday, day of national interprofessional mobilization.
After that of January 19, which saw 1 to 2 million people demonstrate against the reform, the unions hope to do at least as well. A hope reinforced by polls attesting to a growing rejection in public opinion.
The strike promises to be very popular in transport and at school. Air France will cancel one in ten short and medium-haul flights, but long-haul routes will not be affected.
A source in the intelligence services expects 1.2 million demonstrators at the national level “in the high range, including 100,000 in Paris, with 240 processions or rallies planned”.
Eleven thousand police and gendarmes will be mobilized everywhere in France on Tuesday, including 4,000 in Paris, to supervise the demonstrations, announced Monday in Marseilles the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, who expressed the wish that the protests take place “in the same conditions without serious incident” than the previous mobilization.
– In session on February 6 –
The left curries a “solitary, unjust and unjustified” or even “anti-women” project.
Its elected officials oppose the 64-year-olds as a whole and refuse to obstruct, avoiding purely formal amendments. “We are going to adapt our tactics as we go, we want article 7 to be discussed” on age, indicates the Insoumise Clémentine Autain.
RN deputies fight the postponement of the age, but reserve their forces for the hemicycle.
For its part, the right, whose votes are crucial for the text to be adopted, is raising the stakes. The LRs have requests for women with chopped careers, for those who started working at the age of 20, on family rights or even a postponement of the entry into force of the reform.
The presidential majority is not to be outdone, but has been asked to curb its ardor to maintain the financial balance of the reform. The idea of stronger constraints around the employment of seniors in large companies is however gaining ground at Renaissance.
Whether or not it is adopted in committee, the draft will be presented in session on 6 February. The rule for budgetary texts requires that it is the initial version which is submitted, without the amendments adopted in committee.
Two weeks of discussions are scheduled in the hemicycle.
