"In accordance with article 49, paragraph 3, of the 1958 Constitution, and after having obtained the authorization of the Council of Ministers, I decided to engage the responsibility of the government on the bill establishing a universal system pensions. It is 5:35 pm this Saturday at the National Assembly. In a hemicycle on the verge of overheating, despite a few sparse rows, Édouard Philippe announces a strong move on pension reform. Undaunted, despite the outcry from the opposition. One more episode in this incredible soap opera that has been agitating French political life for seven months.
If the rumor of an adoption without a vote had been swelling for some time, it nevertheless took everyone by surprise this Saturday. A weekend, in the middle of a coronavirus crisis, and especially the same day as an exceptional council of ministers devoted to the management of this epidemic which every day worries the French a little more. “Doing this at the same time is just implausible. We give the feeling of mixing everything up and even of taking advantage of this somber news to make the bill seem like nothing, ”choked a heavyweight of the government this Saturday, on condition of anonymity“ because instructions have been given to close ranks behind the Prime Minister. "
Hidden decision? This Saturday, at the beginning of the afternoon, during the press conference which followed the Council of Ministers, Olivier Véran, the new Minister of Health, also in charge of the pensions file, like the spokesperson Sibeth Ndiaye, are careful not to release this information to the public. With communication focused solely on the coronavirus and new prevention measures.
But the Élysée Palace assumes, and just speaks of “concomitance” between these two events. According to our information, the idea of resorting to 49.3 had even been in place for several days. “We just used the shooting window offered by this exceptional council of ministers this Saturday to include 49.3. If we hadn't done it there, we would have envisaged it anyway during the next one, next Wednesday (Editor's note: March 4), ”we say.
"Now we have to go," slipped Macron
In fact, the choice to speed up the tempo was made on February 28, with a series of back and forth between the Élysée and Matignon, and many calls with the parliamentarians of the majority to know if they supported the initiative. “The Prime Minister has multiplied the consultations which were decisive in his choice to propose 49.3. It was therefore nothing improvised, ”insists a relative of Emmanuel Macron. "Now we have to go," even slipped the head of state to one of his visitors at the weekend, anxious to get the text to the Assembly before the municipal elections.
Because time is running out. After two weeks of review, and more than a week scheduled, the text is mired in the 41,000 amendments tabled by the opposition and only seven articles voted - including this Saturday morning the emblematic abolition of special regimes - on the 65 it contains. "Should we continue to give this sad spectacle in the hemicycle, locked in our endless discussions, while outside the French only speak of the coronavirus? What a shift! "Notes the deputy Patrick Mignola, president of the MoDem group, while denouncing" the game of the opposition which by its endless obstruction, pushed the majority to resort to 49.3 ".
Same story with Olivia Grégoire (LREM): “Since the first day, the opposition had announced the color: block, block, block again. Democracy has its share of spectacle, but the opposition had turned our debates into a farce. "And Edouard Philippe to sum up his state of mind himself to answer those who accuse him of circumventing the democratic debate:" I use 49.3 which is a perfectly constitutional procedure to get the Assembly out of the rut " , was it justified at 8 p.m. on TF1.
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This Saturday evening, the Republicans and the left announced that they had tabled a motion of censure. The government will then have 48 hours to organize a debate, without vote, which could take place on the evening of March 2 or, more likely the next day, Wednesday, March 3. It will then pass to the Senate, before a return to the Assembly. "It's not an end, but a step," said Philippe. The series is therefore far from over.
Which text will be submitted to 49.3
The text which will be adopted within the framework of 49.3 will be enriched compared to the first version presented to the Assembly on February 17. In particular by amendments from the LREM group. Detailed review.
- New rights for people exposed to arduous work (in particular the right to retraining paid at 100%, improvement of the methods of acquiring points for polys exposed)
- Situation of women improved thanks to family rights (points for maternity, for single mothers, reversion pension in case of divorce)
- New schemes for employing seniors and end-of-career arrangements (access to progressive retirement for all insured persons from the age of 60, uncapping time savings account for the public service, etc.)
- Reinforcement of the rights of the disabled (progressive retirement at 55, redemption of points, specific increase in the case of disabled children)
- New guarantees for the liberal professions concerning their reserves, the maintenance of their fund or the calculation of their contributions. Taking into account for the military and the police of the dangerousness of their trades and for the teachers in order to maintain their level of pension.
- Clarification of the rules and improvement of the rights for the transition (implementation of the "Italian clause" which allows to take into account the best 25 years or the last 6 effective months for the calculation of the rights of people on horseback between the old and the new regime)