the text arrived in committee on Monday in a turbulent climate

The political battle has begun. The pension reform bill, which notably provides for a retirement at 64, arrived in committee at the National Assembly on Monday where the sixty deputies of the Social Affairs Committee are examining for the first time the text which will arrive on 6 next February in the hemicycle. The debates promise to be turbulent to say the least since 5,693 amendments were accepted, including a majority tabled by Nupes.

Right and left respond to each other

In reality, the deputies did not go into the technical details very little since, a particularity of the budgetary text, no amendment voted in committee will be retained in the project debated in the hemicycle on 6th February next. A sort of warm-up lap where right and left respond to each other, like this exchange on the meaning of the value of work between Antoine Léaument, rebellious France deputy and Émilie Bonnivard, of the Republicans. “To Madame Bonnivard, who spoke earlier about fulfilling work, we invite you to go and carry heavy loads paid at minimum wage and you will see if it is fulfilling to break your back for a pittance”, calls out the first.

An intervention that did not go unanswered from the politician. “Yes, the work is fulfilling and our role is to give our fellow citizens the means to evolve, to have several careers”, replies Émilie Bonnivard to Antoine Léaument. For its part, the government continues to study certain areas for improvement requested by some Republicans and even the majority. This concerns, for example, better consideration of parental leave or a potential reduction in the contribution period from 44 to 43 years for those who started working before the age of 20.

How much is the executive willing to give up to obtain a majority in the Assembly? 3 billion, answers an influential minister behind the scenes, on condition of making new savings on what has already been stopped.

LFI in number

From the beginning of the morning, many people were present in committee in addition to the sixty deputies. Several of them even asked for a bigger work room. Indeed, the deputies of France Insoumise moved in number. Despite the impossibility for some to vote, there were still around thirty of them who absolutely wanted to participate in the debates. The latter also started on the value of work, before quickly deviating on a more political debate on the meaning of the reform.

“The reality is that today we are in pure politics, that is to say in a power issue”, asserts the LFI deputy for the Somme, François Ruffin, present at the National Assembly on Monday. “When we do this against all the unions in France, against seven out of ten French people, against eight out of ten employees, even against the bosses, you become radicalized and you are today in an extremism to impose this reform against a social body which does not want it and brutalize you”, continues the deputy.

“Hold up”

The other major discussion of the morning focused on the legislative vehicle used by the government: the amending Social Security financing bill, which limits debates to 20 days in the Assembly. The left denounces a “scam”, a “robbery” and a “misuse of procedure”. One of the other peculiarities of this budget text is that not all the amendments adopted in committee will be retained during the examination in public session. It will therefore be the initial text of the government which will be debated next Monday in the hemicycle.