France’s National Assembly concluded Friday midnight without a vote and in confusion the first-reading consideration of a pension reform project that has faced opposition from unions and opposition, and consideration of the text must now continue in the Senate.
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As a result, MPs largely rejected a motion of no confidence from the far-right National Rally (RN) party.
The flagship of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term, pension reform has been contested by both the left and right opposition and has already sparked five days of strikes and demonstrations across the country.
It’s also causing tensions within the presidential majority itself, requiring the support of Republican lawmakers (LR, right) to pass the text.
In Parliament, this reform led to almost nine days of epic debates on the issue of funding the system between points of order and adjourned sittings. Several thousand amendments had been tabled by the left.
The debate ended at the time stipulated in the Constitution, precisely at midnight.
“Rejection of Democracy”
In the preamble to her party’s motion of no confidence, RN leader Marine Le Pen denounced “a project (…) poorly implemented and poorly explained” and denounced the government’s “denial of democracy”.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne responded by stressing that the pension debate had revealed the faces of “two populisms”, the extreme right and the radical left.
Labor Minister responsible for defending the text, Olivier Dussopt, pointed out in a hoarse voice that “the government will move to the Senate the text that it initially presented and modified by the amendments adopted by the Assembly”.
“You have insulted me for 15 days,” he said angrily to the deputies of rebellious France (LFI, radical left) and left the hemicycle.
“Macron in check in the assembly. Retirement at 64 is not over yet,” LFI boss Jean-Luc Mélenchon reacted in a blog post before the end of the debate. “This reform has no parliamentary legitimacy,” the group’s leader, Mathilde Panot, told reporters.
Given the number of amendments still to be considered and the deadline set for midnight, it is not surprising that debates stalled a long way from Article 7 on moving the legal age to 64, the most controversial.
Discussion throughout the evening revolved around the contribution period for retirees who can benefit from the long career scheme, ie those who entered the workforce before the age of 21. Forty-three or 44? The question is not clear.
Some LR MPs are calling for all workers who started before that age to be able to retire after 43 years of contributions without legal age being a barrier.
“Sad Spectacle”
The parliamentary left is divided over the strategy to be passed, with environmentalists lamenting to AFP “a strategic failure” in the far left’s decision to multiply the amendments.
“The National Assembly puts on a pathetic show of contempt for the workers. Shameful,” reacted the general secretary of the reform union CFDT, Laurent Berger, in the evening.
The latest demonstrations gathered on Thursday with 1.3 million people, according to the CGT union and 440,000 according to the Interior Ministry.
This is the lowest number since mobilization began, up until March 7, when unions threatened to “shut down” the country if the government didn’t back down on the reform.
The CGT on Friday called for an extendable strike at the refineries starting Monday, March 6th.
The Senate will consider the text on March 2nd. “It’s going to be sport,” said an elected member of the President’s party group.
“The challenge is who gets his story through,” he added, as it seems difficult to say which of the government or the opposition will emerge stronger from this first round of parliament.