After fifteen days of tumultuous debates in the National Assembly, the government bill on pensions arrives in the Senate, in committee on February 28 and on March 2 in public session.
The text will be examined until Sunday, March 12.
“We give ourselves time,”
smiles Gérard Larcher, who, after agreement from the group presidents, authorized the examination of the text on the weekend, and if necessary beyond midnight.
Faced with what is at stake, the President of the Senate is preparing to sit a lot and sleep on the spot during all the discussions.
“We have to do a lot of pedagogy”,
on this text.
"Beyond parliamentarians, we talk to the French,"
he slips, aware of the issue.
“The Senate will not engage in an obstruction of the debates, out of respect for the French.
They have the right to a serious debate, ”
promises Bruno Retailleau, the president of the LR senators.
An opinion shared by Hervé Marseille, head of the Union centriste group.
“The Senate will try to give another image with substantive debates, by completing the government bill.
We will strive to arrive at a clear vote, ”
he pleads.
Due to article 47-1 of the Constitution, used by the government, and for lack of a vote in the National Assembly, the senators will therefore work on the government bill, supplemented by amendments that the executive has kindly wanted retain.
And the senatorial majority has the firm intention of examining the 20 articles contained in the text… starting with the famous article 7, on the contribution period and the legal retirement age.
What to make hope the government.
Elisabeth Borne also exchanged Friday with the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, as well as the two group bosses of the senatorial majority, Bruno Retailleau and Hervé Marseille, before the start of the examination of the text in the hemicycle Thursday.
“An overview before landing the file in the Senate”,
recounts the latter, who discussed with the Prime Minister the priorities of his group - overall coherence of the reform, situation of seniors and women - during the examination of the text.
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Asked about France Inter last Thursday, the government spokesman, Olivier Véran, made the
“observation”
that the Les Républicains party in the Senate had
“already voted for several consecutive years”
“ provisions
which look darn similar”
to the current government project of postponement from 62 to 64 years of the legal age of departure, referring to an amendment voted each end of the year for four years by senators during the examination of the Social Security budget.
"So we consider that the basis of an agreement is on the table,"
he added.
However, if the senatorial majority is in favor of pension reform, Gérard Larcher and Bruno Retailleau intend to recall the need to ensure financial balances.
"It is the condition of the robustness of our social model",
recalls Bruno Retailleau.
“We are going to make sure that this is not a reform for nothing, and that we will not find ourselves in deficit in 2030”,
continues the president of the LR senators.
“For the moment, we have seen a lot of expenditure, but without identifying the revenue.
Otherwise, it will be very expensive, ”
regrets Hervé Marseille, calculating all the points on which the government has let go.
On Saturday, on the sidelines of a trip to the Agricultural Show, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, mentioned the arrival of the text in the Upper House, wishing that "the Senate could
enrich"
the bill
"with whatever seems useful to him.
If the deputies, in particular LR, have lingered a lot on the question of long careers, the senators LR also intend to return extensively to the question of demography, family policy and mothers
.
“There is no question that the reform is done on their backs
, advance Bruno Retailleau.
They have made it possible to consolidate our model, and there they find themselves weakened by the government's project.
A point on which the senators of the centrist Union also intend to be heard.
Hervé Marseille's group is considering increasing the pension by 5% from the second child.
"Find solutions"
The executive also seems ready to
“move”
on this specific point.
On Sunday, on BFMTV, the Minister of Labor clarified that the government was
"agree and open",
conceding that
"having different starting ages between women and men is not very fair".
“The project that we have to improve and continue concerns the situation of women who, having had children, reach retirement age (…) with quarters validated for maternity,” agreed Olivier Dussopt
.
“We can find solutions,”
he added.
If article 2 on the establishment of a "senior index" had been widely debated in the Assembly before being rejected by the deputies, in particular the elected LRs, the senators on the right do not intend to take up this idea.
“We have always had doubts about the constitutionality of the senior index,
explains Bruno Retailleau.
Then, we cannot simply reduce this question to an index.”
LR elected officials should therefore make other proposals.
A point of disagreement with the group of Hervé Marseille, which is not hostile to a senior index - by lowering the threshold of application today provided for 300 employees - nor to the bonus-malus system for companies.
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Despite their very unfavorable opinion on this reform and their fierce opposition, the various left-wing groups in the Senate are also waiting to rework the government's bill.
And do not wish to indulge in the same
"circus"
- says Patrick Kanner - as the Insoumis during the debates in the National Assembly.
In recent days, several statements by the Insoumis have annoyed left-wing senators.
In particular a tweet deemed
"very provocative"
by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, welcoming that
“the Nupes groups in the Senate adopt the strategy of the LFI group in the Assembly to prevent the vote on article 7 before the popular blockage”.
“We have no lessons to receive from the rebels.
I have never received any pressure from the leader of my party, so it is certainly not Jean-Luc Mélenchon who will try to impress me”,
protests the boss of the communist group in the Senate, Eliane Assassi.
"Mélenchon does not have to tell us how to behave, there are no Nupes and even fewer rebels in the Senate"
, also retorts Patrick Kanner.
A “serene but firm” debate
The President of the Socialist Group in the Senate assures us: the three left-wing groups will not table more than 1,500 amendments in total.
“We are here to affirm a political project, not to obstruct with bogus amendments.
The discussions in the Assembly have not served parliamentarism”,
he stings, regretting that the Insoumis have
“imposed their will”
on the three other groups of Nupes during the examination of the text at the Palais Bourbon.
Same opinion for the Communists, who show the firm will to mark their differences.
“We will not be invective, it is not in our culture.
We will be on the offensive to mark our opposition to the substance of this reform,”
warns Eliane Assassi.
The boss of the environmental group, Guillaume Gontard, also pleads for a
“serene but firm”
debate .
“We are going to carry out substantive work with our style, different from that of the deputies.
Whatever the outcome, the Senate can grow out of these discussions
,” he hopes.
The senator from Isère also insists on the desire of all left-wing senators to debate and vote on article 7, which concerns the postponement of the legal age to 64 years.
Even if it means deleting amendments if necessary.
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Wednesday morning, a breakfast will bring together Gérard Larcher and all the group presidents in the Senate.
Objective:
"Gauge the determination of each other",
deciphers a future participant.
In the background, the possible use by the President of the Senate of Article 38 of the internal regulations.
This makes it possible to limit the time of debate on an amendment, an article or the whole of the text, since at least
"two speakers of contrary opinion intervened".
A scenario feared by the left.
“The debates have already been constrained by the government.
I hope that Gérard Larcher will not choose to obstruct us by censoring us”,
retorts the ecologist Guillaume Gontard.
“You have to be responsible… If they use means so that the text is not studied in its entirety, the tools available to the Senate to accelerate the examination are completely democratic”, we answer on the right
.
