Is the possibility of resorting to 49.3 electrifying relations at the highest levels of power? While it took eight days for the first article (out of 65) of the pension reform to be adopted on Monday, the idea of a forceful entry continues to gain ground. But when? At the Elysee and Matignon, we were sweeping the idea this Monday to use this constitutional weapon - which allows adoption without a vote - in the next few days.
“We are not yet in that time. For the moment, the Prime Minister is allowed to move on, ”said a close friend of Emmanuel Macron. “We don't have to answer a question that doesn't arise. We still have time, ”bounces a collaborator of Edouard Philippe, somewhat annoyed at the idea of having a legislative tempo imposed.
And for good reason ... If the president tells his visitors that he does not want to "exclude anything", the Prime Minister is not really enthusiastic. "He is afraid," said a ministerial adviser, with the very next municipal elections in mind. “Our political adversaries will use it to say that we are imposing the law while ignoring parliamentary dialogue. And then, it can potentially re-weld the left. In Le Havre, for example, a workers' city that has been a communist stronghold for thirty years, it can do damage for Philippe… ”, deciphered a LREM strategist.
"If he does that, he is completely demonetized"
“For weeks, he has defended his text by trumpeting everywhere that it is a text of social justice. And there, he would pass in force in the hemicycle? With a speech in the gallery to engage the responsibility of the government by justifying the use of 49.3? Good luck ! If he does that, he is completely demonetized, ”said a member of the government.
The fact remains that some historical macronists have "the impression that the Prime Minister is trying to cover up", and are annoyed. In return, they do not hesitate to slip that with better management of the calendar, it would have been possible to have recourse to the procedure known as “programmed time”, to circumscribe the duration of examination of the text. " Impossible ! “, Returns a supporter of the Prime Minister, recalling that this rule imposes a period of six weeks between the tabling of the text in the Council of Ministers and the examination of the bill.
This Monday evening, the subject also fully occupied the discussions of the executive office of LREM, where "all positions have been expressed", reports a participant. Some macronists fearing that a 49.3 "marks the quinquennium". Others plead on the contrary "for an act of authority and efficiency".
Except that at the Elysée we start to find the long time. “We must now finish and go quickly. The president is in a hurry to move on because the soap opera has lasted too long. Especially since on the use of 49.3, the polls showed that a very large majority of our supporters were in favor ( Editor's note, 74% according to a recent BVA survey ) ", argues an adviser, convinced that it is necessary to put the pressure on Philippe.
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“It will be difficult to move towards a 49.3 if the Prime Minister does not believe it, notes an Elyos adviser. On a procedure like this, he and the president must be calibrated to the nearest millimeter. "