In the National Assembly,
In the aftermath of a thunderous start to the pension reform, the National Assembly needed to breathe. In the cozy bays of the Palais-Bourbon, this Tuesday at midday, the atmosphere was much more peaceful than the day before. The choice of a large majority of elected Nupes to join the new day of mobilization against the government text was undoubtedly for something.
But the debates were still electrified at the time of Questions to the government, at 3 p.m. The Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, suspected of favoritism by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office in the awarding of a public contract in 2009, was particularly targeted by the opposition. We take stock of this new day.
Dussopt attacked, lapidary defense of Borne
Aurélien Saintoul must have felt a little lonely in the scattered ranks of the left. But the LFI deputy from Hauts-de-Seine did not need any help to wake up the somewhat dozing national representation, violently targeting the Minister of Labor. “Monsieur Dussopt was known for his ability to betray his family […] He had sold himself for a ministerial folding seat, it was already lamentable. But Mediapart teaches us that he was not a novice…”, he stings, shelling the revelations of the investigative journal against the former elected socialist. “Who can believe that he is acting today for the general interest and not for his career as an executor of low works? »
Already manhandled the day before, the person concerned has his eyes vague. And let Elisabeth Borne reply. “You are not a prosecutor and we are not in court.” The head of government reiterates her “confidence” in her minister. But the answer is lapidary, and only half of the elected Macronists stand up to applaud. On this day of social mobilization, it is minimum service for the majority.
Will article 7 on 64 years be debated?
After the choppy discussions of the day before, the boos, the points of order and other adjournments, the question was on everyone’s lips on Tuesday: Will the Assembly be able to debate Article 7, which contains the postponement of the legal age of 62 to 64? The debates are due to end on February 17 at the Palais Bourbon, and it is not at all certain that the deputies will have time to discuss the emblematic measure of the bill. “There are, I believe, a little more than 10,000 amendments to be discussed before Article 7. We are not talking about the substance, we are spinning on crazy amendments…”, sighs Jean-Paul Mattei, president of the MoDem group. , which targets the “parliamentary obstruction” of the rebellious. His colleague from Yvelines, Bruno Millienne, goes more frankly. “These people, for me, are jerks, forgive me for the term”.
Even among the socialist allies, the rebellious strategy seems to be in question. “We want to be able to discuss article 7, a major article of the bill…”, slips the elected PS Christine Pirès Beaune. Should we then review the strategy with the rebellious? “That’s what we do…”, she adds. Before targeting the executive. “But those who do not want to go to the end of the text, it is not the opposition, it is the government. We proposed to move our parliamentary niche on Thursday, they said no. We learned yesterday that we would not be debating this weekend either…”, she regrets.
The straight line scattered like a puzzle
They will seem endless to the right, these few days of debate on pensions. The vote of the Republicans promises to be crucial to pass the text in the Assembly, but the elected LRs still seem to be divided. Shortly before noon, Salle des Quatre Colonnes, MP Pierre-Henri Dumont indicated that his group was “divided into 3 on the text: 20 for, 20 against and 20 abstentions”. Asked at a press conference about this scattering, the boss of the LR deputies has an embarrassed laugh. “Pensions are a sensitive subject that creates emotion in the country […] We are not robots and the deputies are gradually getting into the text, many are progressing. I have absolutely no certainty about the balance of the group…”, evacuates Olivier Marleix. “But if the government moves forward on our proposals, a majority of the LR group will support the text,” he said.
In the process, the Corsican deputy Laurent Marcangeli, president of the Horizons group, does not spare his former colleagues. “We could expect the unanimity of the LR group. On pensions, the programs of this political family have always been quite clear. And it’s not as if there hadn’t been a presidential election recently…”