In the National Assembly,
“The hemicycle is embodying hubbub, disorder, frankly it’s not possible! “. It is almost noon this Thursday, and the vice-president of the National Assembly, Naïma Moutchou, is struggling to hold the debates. The deputies have already been arguing for almost three hours over the proposed law to repeal Emmanuel Macron's pension reform, within the framework of the parliamentary niche of La France insoumise. The elected representatives of the government coalition had warned that they would do everything to prevent a lost vote on this text.
“Clown amendments”
Throughout the morning, the majority deputies spoke in the hemicycle to defend the nearly a thousand amendments tabled on this text. “LFI wants to repeal the pension reform like you erase a Monopoly debt. Irresponsible, unrealistic, and purely demagogic,” says Prisca Thevenot, Renaissance MP and former government spokesperson. The speeches follow one another… and are similar. They sometimes have very little to do with the content of the text, but the important thing is elsewhere: to play the clock until midnight this evening, and send the rebellious bill to oblivion.
Faced with this “parliamentary obstruction”, the left is fuming. “We will not participate in this charade and these clown amendments. You spit in the faces of voters. You don't sit for two months on the budget but there, you find the energy for people to go to work until they die,” says Hadrien Clouet, a rebellious MP. “Don’t treat your colleagues as clowns even if you are specialists, because the circus in Parliament is you who make it!” », replies the elected MoDem Richard Ramos. At almost every intervention, the session president must intervene to calm the parliamentarians. “Stop your provocations, think of those who listen to us…” sighs Naïma Moutchou.
“The darkest hours of our history”
Calls for rules and session interruptions multiply, again and again, to the great dismay of the left, their eyes fixed on the clock. The rebels also refuse to go to the microphone to try to speed up the pace, including the rapporteur of the text, seated in the front row. So, when he finally gets up, the Macronists cheer him. But Ugo Bernalicis quickly disappoints them. “You are asking for public votes on all your obstructionist amendments… Be careful, there will be lists with your names on the Assembly website! “. The Macronists are screaming. Point of order: “We cannot accept that the rapporteur threatens parliamentarians, it is INADMISSIBLE!” », shouts Sylvain Berrios, Horizons MP. Suspension of session. “What LFI does with lists, names, addresses, it recalls the darkest hours of our history”, annoys Mathieu Lefèvre, Salle des Quatre Colonnes.
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At the resumption, Eliane Kremer, of the Republicans, ignites the powder when she believes that “at 64 as at 60, we do not go directly to the nursing home or to the coffin! “. Jean-Philippe Tanguy, until now silent with his RN colleagues, replied: “You don't have to scratch long to see the class arrogance of the party of petty bourgeois who have never worked.” Suspension of session. When it resumes, the elected RN speaks again and histrionics. “I apologize to our colleague. She is a young 62-year-old retiree from the Banque de France, one of the most favorable regimes in the Republic.” Call to order. “It’s a personal attack…” laments Naïma Moutchou.
At the mid-day break, the examination of article 1 of the bill had not started. The pile of amendments is still as big as ever, with 700 remaining under study. The debates resume at 3 p.m., and the rebels now decide to participate. A way of acknowledging the defeat and the impossibility of going to the vote before midnight.
