Use of 49.3: censorship motions in hand, the opposition ready to fight

The debate on the two motions of censure which will take place Tuesday at the Assembly promises to say the least animated. On the right as on the left, the opposition deputies did not take off. "It was unimaginable - and yet they did - to vote on a text like this without the financial component," suffocates the deputy LR Oise Eric Woerth. "All the deputies of my party are very upset against this reform against which they are not hostile in principle but whose text is incomprehensible to the French," he adds.

Danien Abad, the president of the LR group who will defend the right censure motion - which no more than the left one has no chance of being voted on - is even more reassured: "A week ago we were very respectful of republican customs by participating in the information meeting in Matignon on the coronavirus. But to draw 49.3 on a Saturday after an extraordinary council of ministers which was to be devoted to the epidemic is to make fun of the world. Edouard Philippe shattered the national consensus. "

"Extremely easy to find a common strategy"

The episode will have had the advantage of rewinding, at least temporarily, the left. The LFI, PS and PC groups agreed on Saturday evening to jointly table a censure motion. "It was extremely easy to find a common strategy between us," said socialist David Habib. The text of the left-wing censure motion points to the inadequacies in concertation, the absence of details on the funding and content of the orders, as well as the government's "avoidance technique" with regard to Parliament.

Many are astonished that the government has not used the “shared legislative time”, a device making it possible to fix in advance the duration of the examination of a text in session. "The majority locked themselves up in the trap of obstruction," almost seems to regret Damien Abad. In fact, rebellious and communists, who had clearly assumed from the start their will to obstruct, rub their hands. "Symbolically this 49.3 will allow us to put the cover on the authoritarian side of the government on pensions", welcomes the deputy of Seine-Saint-Denis Eric Coquerel, a close friend of Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The latter did not hesitate to denounce an executive method "that we do not even see in China".