Olivier Dussopt is smiling.
When he enters the Senate Chamber, around 9:30 p.m. this Saturday evening, the Minister of Labor is relaxed.
He knows it, the pension reform, for which he is responsible, is about to be widely adopted by the Upper House.
After the very strong parliamentary obstruction orchestrated by the left in recent weeks, and at the end of a once again eventful evening, he finally gets his revenge.
The Senate, on which the executive counted, came to put an end to a long way of the cross, by voting all 20 articles contained in the text.
Which was approved shortly after at 11:30 p.m., by 195 votes to 112. Either ahead of the deadline set by Article 47-1 of the Constitution, which provided that the examination could last until
A favorable outcome, therefore, as a relief for the government, which feared having to go through a 49-3 without either of the two Houses of Parliament having pronounced on its text.
And a satisfaction for the LR president of the Luxembourg Palace, Gérard Larcher, who had publicly said his wish to see the bill be submitted to a vote in good and due form.
This, out of democratic concern, given the extent of the protest led by the inter-union since January.
And whose seventh meeting was marked by a decline in mobilization this weekend: only 368,000 to 1.3 million demonstrators were registered in the country, according to figures from the police and the CGT.
LIVE – Follow the latest information on the seventh day of mobilization against pension reform
If the Assembly had not even succeeded in going to the end of the examination of article 3 of the bill in February, this time it will have been necessary for the senatorial majority and Olivier Dussopt to assume to significantly accelerate the debates.
Hence the use of article 38 of the regulations of the Luxembourg Palace, then of article 44-3 - which allows a single vote to be imposed on the entire text -, drawn on Friday by the Minister of Labor .
With this so-called single vote procedure, "
many opposition senators have demobilized
", judges a right-wing parliamentarian.
“
Fifty amendments, for lack of being defended, fell.
We progressed very quickly, much faster than expected
, ”we add.
In the Hemicycle, Saturday evening, the left is also gray mine.
After a day when many elected officials mobilized in their constituencies, some socialist, communist or environmental senators were also absent subscribers.
"
With the transport strikes, many could not return in time to the
Senate
", deciphers, bitter, an elected PS.
This did not prevent his colleagues from trying one last maneuver by asking for a quorum, to try to delay things further.
Initiative ultimately rejected, due to the absence of one of the thirty signatories noted during the roll call.
The opposition also hoped to be able to attack the boss of LR senators, Bruno Retailleau, on his amendment aimed at hastening the end of special diets by ending the “grandfather clause”.
A decried device, including within the majority, on which the left intended to obstruct to save time.
But the government did not retain this modification, the subject was therefore not discussed.
"
I sensed a movement of joy ... You dreamed of it, he did it
," smiled Senator LR Roger Karoutchi, then chairman of the session.
The amendment having been withdrawn, 182 sub-amendments from the left then automatically fell.
On Saturday, the parliamentarians were therefore able to go from the examination of article 13 to that of article 17 before the evening break.
The same words reused dozens of times... for hours
Until the end, however, the opposition will have made its anger heard, judging that the Senate had been
gagged
"and the function of parliamentarian"
devitalized
".
One by one, the elected representatives of the three left-wing groups - PS, EELV and PCF - thus repeated the same words at the microphone dozens of times, for hours.
“
You have decided to devitalize the parliamentary function, by adding all the procedures offered to you by the Constitution and the regulations
, they hammered
.
You hoped that we would leave the retreat of the French in the sole hands of the allied right, but we are not fooled and neither are the French.
We won't let go, we won't let them go
."
And the socialist senator Jérôme Durain ironically:
“The situation is unprecedented, and we are looking for the words to describe it.
I asked
ChatGPT
(an artificial intelligence tool, editor's note)
what we could say about it, and here is what he offered me
:
“You have decided to devitalize the parliamentary function by adding all the procedures offered to you by the Regulations and the Constitution.
You probably hoped that we would leave the reform in the hands of the coalition rights, but the French are not fooled, neither are we: we will not let go, and we will not let them go
.
“Left populist!”
For several hours on Saturday, everyone went there with their formula, their bon mot, occupying all the speaking time.
“
As we said at school, you will copy it a hundred times …
“
You have decided to devitalize (…)
”, supported PS Senator Rémi Féraud, delivering the same speech once again.
What raises the level of tension a little more.
“
Left populist!
“replied Senator LR Sophie Primas.
“
So talk about Mélenchon …
”, also added Olivier Dussopt, implying that the senatorial left was not worth much better in his eyes than the Nupes, which applied to the letter the strategy dictated by the Insoumis leader to paralyze the Assembly.
"The people left you a long time ago"
On this tenth day of examination of the text by the Upper House, fatigue and annoyance were felt on the benches.
And the desire to get to the vote too.
In order to end it.
Nevertheless, many assured that this sequence would leave, according to them, lasting traces.
The senatorial majority noting for example the
“melenchonisation”
of the left.
"
The opposition is devitalizing the parliamentary function, blocking the debate with its repetitive amendments, doing everything so that the Senate self-destructs by not voting on a text
"
,
thus judged the boss of the Renaissance group, François Patriat, using the same words. than those repeated in a loop by the left, but to send them back to their authors
.
(The opposition) uses all the means at its disposal.
We are not giving up, when the people have long since given up on you
”.
A speech that triggered strong protests on the benches of the left.
During the last minutes of debate, Saturday evening, the president of the LR group, Bruno Retailleau, largely congratulated his troops and was delighted that the Upper House was finally able to vote on this text.
“
Finally, here we are!
This is the end of this marathon!
We have reached the end of this legislative race, we have reached this act which establishes the legitimacy of Parliament
, ”he said from the podium, before denouncing the obstructionist maneuvers of his left-wing counterparts.
And to warn the executive: “
It is our text that we are going to vote on!
".
Next step now: the Joint Joint Committee (CMP), scheduled for this week, where seven deputies and seven senators are to meet this Wednesday, March 15 with the ambition of finding an agreement on the text, on the substance as on the form.
Thursday, the next day, the bill will then return to the Senate in the morning, then to the National Assembly in the afternoon, for a final vote.
With an outcome still very uncertain.