Even before the start of the examination of the law on pension reform, this Monday afternoon, in plenary session at the National Assembly, there was a lot of excitement behind the scenes this weekend, with statements media. Thus the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, without questioning the cardinal measure of the reform, the increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64, took a step on Sunday towards the LR group, whose voices are essential to pass the reform.
« We are going to move by extending the long career system to those who started working between the ages of 20 and 21 “, which will allow them to ” leave at 63 “, she announced in the Journal du dimanche. ” It is a measure that will cost between 600 million and one billion euros per year, and which will affect up to 30,000 people per year. ». Et « as we are carrying out this reform to ensure the balance of the system by 2030, we will have to find ways of financing ».
LR president Eric Ciotti satisfied with Elisabeth Borne’s proposals
LR president Eric Ciotti repeated to the Parisian Saturday wish ” pass a pension reform “, welcoming the” advances obtained and pointing to the subject of long careers. Republicans remain divided, however, with some believing that ” raising the legal age provided for by article 7 is unfair.
Nothing says that the legislative debates can therefore go to the end of the legislative path. The deputies will, in fact, have to tackle the some 20,000 amendments tabled on the bill, including 13,000 by LFI. Government spokesman Olivier Véran criticized on Sunday ” stupid and nasty obstruction of Nupes. If the Assembly does not overcome the amendments by midnight February 17, the text may still pass to the Senate, due to the choice of the executive to use an amending budget for Social Security. ” We will still be open in the next few days and we will accept amendments promised the minister. The President of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, felt that filing ” 18,000 amendments to a text of law, it’s like when you throw tomato soup on a board: it’s useless and it ridicules those who do it ».
Moreover, Elisabeth Borne’s new proposal does not calm the determination of the unions. ” Clearly, this is not the response to the massive mobilization, geographically and professionally diverse, that has taken place “On January 19 and 31, underlined Laurent Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, on France Inter.
Indeed, on the side of the unions, the determination does not weaken. Two new days of action are planned, Tuesday February 7 and Saturday February 11, after two days of strikes and demonstrations, January 19 and 31, the last of which (with 1.27 million demonstrators according to the police and more than 2 5 million according to the intersyndicale) exceeded the participation record of 2010.
For the unions, “the time is not to block the economy”
It’s a week of mobilization, ” with two dates and a climax », the parades of Saturday 11, to which « you have to come massively “, insists Laurent Berger on Sunday. ” We combined a weekday and a Saturday, we will see on all two days, despite this period of school holidays “(February holidays), said Friday, the secretary general of the CGT, Philippe Martinez.
From a security source, the authorities expect Tuesday between 900,000 and 1.1 million people, including 70,000 maximum in Paris, where the procession will parade from the Place de l’Opéra to Bastille. An inter-union will be held at the Labor Exchange in Paris in the evening.
The strikes should once again particularly concern the energy, refinery and rail transport sectors, which have planned to stop work on February 7 and 8. Traffic will be strongly disturbed Tuesday for trains, TGV as TER, in the metros and the RER, indicated RATP and SNCF. AT Orly, one in five flights will be canceled.
But the time has not yet come to block the economy, a strategy decried by the reformist unions, who intend to keep public opinion on their side with demonstrations “friendly, respectful”. Laurent Berger says he has very constructive exchanges with members of the majority ». « Of course, it will be up to them to decide. They have to look in all the cities and ridings where they are elected. When, for example, you are a deputy for Ain and there are 10,000 demonstrators in Bourg-en-Bresse, should that leave you totally indifferent? “, he questioned.
Parliamentary obstruction, a classic of the Fifth Republic
The obstruction, also called ” with tears » parliamentary, aims to slow down the debates with a series of sometimes absurd amendments, repetitions, tumult, even a deliberately slow rate of voice. It is an ancient practice, attested from the Second Republic in France, according to the jurist Chloë Geynet-Dussauze, author of a thesis on the subject.
Less present at the start of the Fifth Republic, the phenomenon started up again in 1980. In the opposition, “ the left seizes it to gain visibility when it feels that a result is possible in 1981 “, says this specialist. Then the right returns the favor, after the election of François Mitterrand, in order to fight certain bills considered as political markers.
An obstructive amendment by Jacques Toubon (RPR) against social ordinances (retirement at age 60, etc.) provokes an outcry. He suggests ” plant coconut trees in each municipality in proportion to the population aged 60 and over and make it compulsory, at least once a year, for the entire adult population to climb these trees “. We also remember an intervention by Christine Boutin, in 1998, (UDF at the time) who opposed the Pacs, will speak for 5:25 while reading 58 typed pages. In September 2006, the left railed against the privatization of Gaz de France. The bill dedicated to energy will require 121h36 of debate with more than 137,000 amendments, an absolute record under the Fifth Republic.
(With AFP)