Left-wing MPs denounced an ‘undemocratic coup de force’ after the attempt to repeal the pension reform failed on Thursday before further announcing that they will be tabling a motion of no confidence towards the government.
The independent group, LIOT of the National Assembly, had tabled a bill to repeal the pension reform to “get out of the political and social crisis”, according to the text’s rapporteur Charles de Courson.
LIOT group chairman Bertrand Pancher explained that “there is nothing left of our text” and that he did not want to “make a fool of ourselves by continuing this debate,” after the text was examined on Thursday and withdrawn during the discussion.
In fact, the bill had already been gutted after being examined by the Social Affairs Committee last week, when the article repealing the pension reform was deleted by MPs from the majority and the right.
The LIOT and NUPES MPs tried to reintroduce it by amendment, but the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet refused on the grounds of financial inadmissibility. According to this rule, a text emanating from members of parliament cannot create a financial burden for the State.
Opposition MPs unanimously criticised this decision, arguing that in the past, similar amendments and proposals had been declared admissible in the name of respect for the right of parliamentary initiative. Independent MP Charles de Courson described the move as a “denial of democracy,” calling it a “new stage in the debasement of the National Assembly.”
He regretted that the pension reform had “never been voted on” by the National Assembly.
After the favourable vote in the Senate, the reform was adopted using the procedure set out in Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows a text to be considered as adopted unless a no-confidence motion is passed by an absolute majority, automatically toppling the government. At the time, the motion failed.
After the end of the debates on Thursday, the president of the radical-left group La France insoumise (LFI), Mathilde Panot, announced that the groups of the left-wing coalition (NUPES) “will table a no-confidence motion.” To justify the initiative, the left-wing MPs said they were “outraged by the anti-democratic manoeuvres” of the presidential (relative) majority.
The motion is due to be examined next week. The last time a no-confidence motion was examined, during pension reform, it was supported by part of the right (Les Républicains) and failed by just nine votes.
(Davide Basso | EURACTIV.fr)
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