The SMS fell on Saturday at 5:24 p.m. on the Walkers' phones. “Thank you to all the parliamentarians present in the Assembly for joining the hemicycle. »A usual message, as soon as a text is being examined. The situation is nothing trivial. Ten minutes after this recall of the troops, Edouard Philippe triggers article 49.3 to have the pension reform adopted without a vote at first reading. As the LREM deputies, the secretaries of state, who are not invited to the Council of Ministers, discover it directly. Confidentiality aimed at preventing leaks and a heckling organized by the opposition. "We risked having a turmoil," says a close friend of the Prime Minister.
The use of this constitutional weapon was, in itself, expected. Not the timing. Why draw it out during an exceptional Council of Ministers devoted to the coronavirus, and not that of the previous Wednesday? "We had to let the majority go," said a minister. Just a week ago, part of the LREM group claimed its reluctance behind the scenes. This weekend, an En Marche senator, Michel Amiel, left the door. But the majority's Telegram loops have remained sluggish this time. “There are few contrary opinions and those who are a little uncomfortable say nothing. Our oppositions have gone so far ... We are a bit stuck, ”says a LREM MP.
LREM MEPs urged to insist that the text has been improved
Philippe also had in mind to show the obstruction to the French. "He immediately thought, a fortnight ago, that one could not act the 49.3 without having the proof that the debate was bogged down, explains his entourage. We have made public opinion mature. "This results in this element of language, distributed this weekend to the majority:" The use of 49-3 allows our institutions to function normally and to put an end to non-debate. "
Another point on which LREM MEPs are asked to insist: the text is "enriched by the advances negotiated by the social partners [...], but also improved by the work of parliamentarians". According to a minister's account, more than 300 amendments from the majority, but also from the communist, socialist and LR opposition, were taken up despite 49.3. Preparing this final version of the text was the whole purpose of the luncheon to which the Prime Minister had invited, on Friday in Matignon, the presidents of the LREM and MoDem groups, the rapporteurs and executives of the majority at the front on this issue. What to argue that "the work of the Assembly is not lost".
In mixing coronavirus and 49.3, the executive took a risk, however, that of being accused of disloyalty, or worse, of cynicism. So why not wait until next Wednesday? At the top of the state, it is emphasized that the health crisis will be just as critical. "Imagine that we arrive at 3000 cases in France, we could not have done anything more," shudders a heavyweight from the government.
"Public opinion is no longer in retirement"
Waiting would, above all, have postponed the discussion on the motions of censure by the same amount. By triggering 49.3 on Saturday, the executive offered the possibility of starting the examination of the organic bill, relating to financing, before the municipal truce. However, the LREM strategists are convinced that the Macronist voters, like part of the right, expect the government to move forward.
The fact remains that on the eve of the election, the executive duo is making a big bet. In government, we sense that "the coronavirus will keep the attention of the French". A minister even believes "that opinion is no longer in pensions". The fact remains, concedes another, that the use of 49.3 "is never popular, always seen as an act of brutality". Such as to revive the social front.
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VIDEO. Pensions: Richard Ferrand details the conditions for using 49.3
In the front line, Edouard Philippe, also involved in the municipal battle in Le Havre, where his permanence was pebbled Saturday evening, plays particularly big. "It does not overplay firmness, does not swell the muscles, argues a relative. He always wanted to embody dialogue, but that does not mean being locked up by those who want to block or break. It remains to convince the French. And his constituents.
