Pensions: Article 40, Liot, vote or not... what is at stake Wednesday in the National Assembly

Will vote, will not vote? In recent days, an intense cacophony has invaded the corridors of the National Assembly around the Liot bill to repeal the pension reform. You have not understood everything about what is happening? Le Parisien summarizes the latest developments.

Originally, the parliamentary group Freedoms, Independents, Overseas and Territories (Liot) tabled a bill on 20th April to repeal the pension reform. It is examined in the National Assembly this Thursday, as part of the parliamentary niche allocated to the same group.

A stormy and incredible passage in committee

The bill proposed by the Liot group first of all provides in its first article for the outright repeal of the postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years. To finance such a measure to the tune of about 15 billion euros - the deputies being prohibited from creating new expenditure in the state budget - they have brought out in Article 2 of the bill a classic trick, namely an increase in tobacco taxes.

Before its passage in the hemicycle, the text was examined by the Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly on 31 May. An incredible day that resulted in a text... emptied of its substance. The first article was rejected by 38 votes in favour, 34 against and one abstention. Many amendments to Article 1 were therefore tabled by opposition MPs in an attempt to reintroduce the provisions ousted during its examination in session on 8 June.

Article 40 of the Constitution brandished by the majority

But the presidential majority has no intention of making it easy for them. It is based on Article 40 of the Constitution, the same one that prohibits elected officials from creating any additional charge for public funds. "It does not respect our Constitution," declared on franceinfo on May 17 Aurore Bergé, president of the Renaissance group in the Assembly.

In the eyes of Renaissance, the financing measures provided for in Article 2 of the bill are only an artifice in total contradiction with the public health objectives carried for decades for a reduction in smoking. To count on such large revenues from this sector (we are therefore talking about billions of euros) would be to bet on a stabilization of the number of consumers, and not a decrease. This use of tobacco taxes is indeed usually used "to compensate for a reasonable decrease in revenue, for an amendment that has no significant impact on the budget," abounds with franceinfo Jean-François Kerléo, associate professor of public law at the University of Aix-Marseille.

For Braun-Pivet, there will be "no vote" on Thursday

Questioned on RMC Wednesday morning, the president of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet put a coin in the machine: "Tomorrow, whatever happens, there will not be a vote on the repeal of the pension reform," she claimed, maintaining that there would be "no repeal of the pension reform" at all.

Yaël Braun-Pivet (@YaelBRAUNPIVET): "Tomorrow, whatever happens, there will be no repeal of the pension reform"pic.twitter.com/zbCkusbCu0

— BFMTV (@BFMTV) June 7, 2023

"On these amendments to restore Article 1 (which provides for retirement to be raised to 62 years), I am very clear: they will be declared inadmissible by myself during the day," said Yaël Braun-Pivet, adding that there would be "other inadmissibilities that will be pronounced". "I apply the rule, nothing but the rule," she said.

Liot sees red and speaks of "denial of democracy"

What strain a little more relations with the opposition, Liot in the lead: "It is not normal that this announcement is made on a TV channel, instead of first being made public on the website of the Assembly, it is a non-respect of more of its function," assures the Parisian the entourage of the deputy Liot Bertrand Pancher, who denounces the "weakening of Parliament".

"The decision of the President of the Assembly to declare inadmissible the amendments to restore Article 1 of the bill repealing the postponement of the effective retirement age constitutes a worrying precedent and a new denial of democracy," the parliamentary group said in a statement.

An unprecedented attack on the rights of Parliament! Please find attached a press release from the LIOT Group#PPLLiot #ReformeDesRetraites pic.twitter.com/mR2m3htkxm

— LIOT Group (@GroupeLIOT_An) June 7, 2023

LFI announces tabling a motion of censure

Faced with the statements of the President of the National Assembly, the leader of the rebellious deputies Mathilde Panot announced in the wake of the intention of her group to table a motion of censure against the government.

The Unsubmissive do not agree with the position of the majority, which considers that Article 40 applies in this case. According to them, by providing a financing measure to avoid creating a "burden on public finances", the Liot group is carrying an admissible bill, and not submitting it quickly would therefore be "a denial of democracy".

"It is unacceptable that one can carry out such a coup without there being a reaction behind it," she said, without specifying when she would be deposed, or with what other group she could be.