The French government assures that it does not want to use article 49.3 of the Constitution, that is to say an adoption without a vote, to have the National Assembly approve its highly contested pension reform. He immediately finds himself engaged in a hunt for votes.
“We don’t want 49.3. We want to transform our relative majority into an absolute majority,” government spokesman Olivier Véran said on Sunday, following a meeting in Matignon with the head of government Elisabeth Borne and several ministers, including Bruno Le Maire (Economy), Olivier Dussopt (Labour) and Gabriel Attal (Public Accounts).
“We hope that there can be a positive vote for this text,” he added.
But “we will not give up on our reform,” he said, suggesting that the use of 49.3 was not completely excluded. The National Assembly must decide Thursday on this project.
Even if it does not use this constitutional tool, the government might as a precaution, in an ordinary or extraordinary Council of Ministers, take this week the legal provisions allowing a possible recourse to this option, according to a government source.
Yes from the Senate
The Prime Minister rose to the front line as soon as the vote of the Senate, dominated by the right, was acquired, late Saturday evening, by 195 votes once morest 112. She promised to now put all her “energy” so “that this text be voted on”.
President Emmanuel Macron, for whom this reform is politically capital, on the other hand remained on Sunday on his reserve and did not comment on the adoption of the text in the Senate.
“There is a majority in Parliament” to vote for the reform, wants to believe Elisabeth Borne, on the edge of a much tighter ballot which is announced, probably Thursday, in the National Assembly.
The government has taken out its calculator and hopes to obtain enough votes from the Republicans, however divided, in order to avoid the use of a tool perceived as authoritarian. If it thinks it does not have a majority on a text, the government can indeed have it adopted without a vote but by exposing itself to the risk of a motion of censure.
After three days of respite, parliamentary debates will resume on Wednesday, with the convening of a joint joint committee (CMP) in parallel with an eighth day of demonstrations once morest the reform.
“Alert”
In this meeting, seven deputies and seven senators will seek to agree on a compromise text. The government is not present there, but it can pull the strings.
If an agreement is reached, the text will go to the Senate once more on Thursday for a final validation and then, probably in immense suspense, to the National Assembly.
According to a source within the executive, Matignon should bring together the parliamentarians of the majority concerned on Monday to prepare for the conclave, where the macronists and the right are in the majority.
Saying that there is a majority in Parliament is “the Coué method”, said the leader of the socialist senators Patrick Kanner on RMC.
He pointed out that 50 votes were missing from the right and the centrist group in the Senate to vote for the reform, “a significant alert”, according to him.
Given the “unprecedented” level of protests once morest the reform, using 49.3 “would be a form of democratic vice”, warned CFDT boss Laurent Berger.
The union leader warns above all once morest the “very deep resentment” that the adoption of the reform might arouse in the world of work, judging that Emmanuel Macron’s refusal to receive the inter-union looks like an “incredible arm of honor to social democracy”.
“Little margin”
The government’s update on Sunday also echoes the positions of several majority leaders.
The arguments once morest are “very strong”, judged the Grand Jury RTL / Le Figaro / LCI the boss of the MoDem François Bayrou, even if “there is little margin” to bring together a majority of deputies.
The boss of the Renaissance presidential party, Stéphane Séjourné, is not in favor of 49.3 either and estimated in the Journal du Dimanche (JDD) that the reform “can and must have a majority”, calling “in responsibility” the Republicans to vote it.
But “if, in the end, there is a concern” the government “will have to use it”, advised the boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau at the Grand rendez-vous Europe 1 / Les Echos / CNews.
The executive puts all its hopes in Les Républicains, yet particularly divided in the Assembly, where the slingers play the spoilsport.
Now “the LRs of the Senate must agree with the LRs of the Assembly”, sums up a government source.
At this stage, between 30 and 35 LR deputies plan to vote for the text, around fifteen to oppose it and around ten to abstain, according to an internal source.
The agreement is not good either between the groups of the majority, Renaissance, MoDem and Horizons. According to the latest scores from AFP, a dozen or so deputies from the three groups might opt to abstain. And the call for mobilization launched from Matignon on Sunday is also addressed to them.
This article has been published automatically. Sources: ats / afp