The Minister of the Economy, who made it clear that he did not want this recourse, also added that he was speaking “with great caution, because it may be that in a few days, I will no longer be (… ) to the government.” The opposition was quick to react.
The most divisive measure of Emmanuel Macron’s program now represents the major project of the second five-year term. But the project to gradually postpone the legal retirement age to 65, with a review clause at 64, is far from unanimous. Asked this Monday on FranceInfo about the fact that the government will not use 49-3 to pass this reform, Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, admitted that he “cannot give this guarantee, I do not wish it, that is certain. I have always said that this reform should be the subject of as much discussion and dialogue as possible with the hope of reaching a compromise.»
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A lack of guarantee which did not take long to make the opposition react, including Jean-Luc Mélenchon, candidate of France Insoumise who came in third position in the first round of the presidential election.
Communist leader Fabien Roussel tweeted: “On June 12 and 19, let’s give him a 49.3 by the ballot box in the legislative elections“.
MEP RN Hélène Laporte judged that “Faced with the planned social breakdown of our country, the next legislative elections will be crucial“. “Do not leave full powers to Emmanuel Macron“, who is “an authoritarian leader“Launched the acting president of RN Jordan Bardella on Monday in view of the legislative elections.
At Les Républicains, MP Pierre-Henri Dumont assured that “LR deputies will be there to vote for the motion of censure that goes with 49-3“. His colleague Olivier Marleix said that “if Emmanuel Macron does not have a majority in the legislative elections, he will be obliged to do a minimum of consultation“. Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, boss of Debout la France, lamented that “from the first minute of the mandate, Emmanuel Macron shows his contempt for Parliament“.
“Not the legitimacy to say that the 49-3 will be excluded”
Contacted by Le Figarothe Ministry of the Economy qualifies the importance taken on by Bruno Le Maire’s statement: “he did not have the legitimacy to say that 49-3 will be excluded, he could not attest to government action in the years to come since he may no longer be a minister in a few days.“During the interview on France Info, the Minister of the Economy also indicated that he was speaking”with great caution, because it may be that in a few days, I will no longer be Minister of Economy and Finance or no longer in the government.»
As a reminder, the 49-3 is a weapon feared by parliamentarians. Under the terms of paragraph 3 of article 49 of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, the government can engage its responsibility on a bill under debate in the National Assembly. Examination of the text then stops and it is considered adopted without a vote, unless a motion of censure is tabled and adopted by an absolute majority of the deputies. However, the 49-3 can only be used once per parliamentary session, excluding the budget vote. In February 2020, Edouard Philippe, then Prime Minister, had already used it for pension reform, before stopping the machine with the Covid-19 crisis.
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In detail, Emmanuel Macron aims to postpone the retirement age to 64 by 2028 and to 65 by 2031 but also to raise the minimum pension to 1100 euros. “ Our reform is to shift four months by four months year by year the legal retirement age to 65, with a review clause at 64. (…) I don’t want to lock ourselves into things that are too strict and imply that there is no room for maneuver on the negotiation “, claimed Bruno Le Maire all the same, mentioning in particular the question of long careers and hardship.
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