“Do
you think we are going to spend a fortnight like this in the Hemicycle?”
Yaël Braun-Pivet, the President of the National Assembly, addresses the deputies of Nupes, half an hour after the opening of the session kicking off the discussions.
"Yessssssss!"
, howl, hilarious and while slamming their desks, the deputies of Nupes.
Since the beginning of the debates, the parliamentarians of the left alliance have multiplied the points of order.
They shout, shout, jeer, protest, under the distraught gaze of the other benches.
Olivier Dussopt, the Minister of Labour, goes up to the podium.
He must present the main lines of his reform, which aims in particular to postpone the legal retirement age to 64 years.
But the hubbub is such that no one hears his words.
Yaël Braun-Pivet is forced to suspend the session.
Lively interpellations.
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The general discussion is still far away.
The debates on the various articles and amendments, even more.
The obstruction has already begun.
The left ranks are united in anger.
Everyone takes the floor, in a Hemicycle that looks more like a playground than a parliamentary enclosure.
The deputies, particularly on the left, multiply the points of order, sometimes denouncing a
“denial of democracy”
, sometimes a
“coup of force”
of the President of the National Assembly, the latter having refused to carry out a new draw after the tabling of a referendum motion by the group Libertés, Indépendants, Outre-mer et Territoires (Liot).
This motion will be defended by the National Rally, which won the bet last week, after drawing lots, to the chagrin of the Communists and their allies.
Incessant howls of the deputies of La France insoumise
After several attempts, Olivier Dussopt finally manages to deliver his speech, under the incessant screams of the deputies of La France insoumise.
In particular , he criticizes
the "brutality"
and
"obstruction"
of the left oppositions, already overexcited when the debates have not even started yet.
An opinion shared in the ranks of the presidential camp, which did not expect so much
"verbal violence"
from the start of the debates.
“Refusal of debate and invectives… La Nupes is the zadification of parliamentary life coupled with a low-end reality series”
, stings for example the Macronist deputy Maud Bregeon.
“We have lost forty minutes, forty minutes without discussing pensions.
Who in this Hemicycle makes the short scale to the far right?
, taunts the boss of the Renaissance group, Aurore Bergé, while the elected LFI storms against the government.
On the other side of the Hemicycle, the contrast is striking.
Marine Le Pen's troops show no sign of discontent or mood swings.
This one even sketches a little satisfied smile, already seeing the benches of the left push out cries of outrage… Same attitude among the Republican deputies, many of whom shake their heads to underline their despondency.
Tax, tax, tax, that's your only project
Gabriel Attal, Budget Minister
Meanwhile, at the podium, the Minister of the Budget, Gabriel Attal, distributes the blows.
"Taxing, taxing, taxing, that's your only project
," he says to Nupes, before attacking the RN,
"camp of lies and privileges"
.
And to support: pensions,
"it's reform or bankruptcy"
.
Two hours later, things calmed down.
The rumblings, sincere or simulated, are more discreet and less numerous.
Then comes the dreaded motion of preliminary rejection, defended by Mathilde Panot.
If adopted, the reform would simply be rejected without the debates taking place.
All weekend, the macronist staff multiplied the calls and messages to the elected Republicans so that the latter are present in the Hemicycle in order to help reject this motion.
The president of the LFI group storms against the executive:
“You are not defending the value of work but the value of servitude.”
Before adding, to the Macronist troops:
“The more you talk, the more you swell the ranks of opponents of this reform.
You have the gift of being unanimous against you.
20,500 amendments
Meanwhile, the Hemicycle is filling up… before the long-awaited vote.
A few minutes later, the motion to reject was rejected - 292 votes against, 243 for -, thanks to the votes of the Republicans and the relative majority.
The debates will be able to begin: more than 20,500 amendments await the parliamentarians.
Most filed by the Nupes, which intends to monopolize the floor to denounce the "injustice" of this reform.
A long tunnel which despairs in advance the majority troops.
Unless…
“Perhaps 49.3 will come to deliver us before”
, hopes, disappointed, a macronist executive.
