PARIS (Reuters) – Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne estimated on Tuesday that a “majority exists” on the pension reform bill and said she wanted a vote to take place on Thursday on the entire text in the National Assembly .
“The joint committee on our plan for pensions will meet tomorrow [mercredi, ndlr]. You will then be asked to express your views on the pension reform. Not on support for the government, but on this project, and this project only!”, She said in the hemicycle during the session of questions to the government.
The executive thus confirms its desire to avoid recourse to article 49.3 of the Constitution which would allow adoption without a vote but whose use is considered “dangerous” by the unions opposed to the project.
The government, which does not have an absolute majority at the Palais Bourbon, must convince in the camp of the deputies Les Républicains (LR), with 61 elected officials still divided on the text.
“A majority exists, which is not afraid of reforms, even unpopular ones, when they are necessary”, declared Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday before the deputies.
“With my government, we are fully committed so that in the coming days, a majority will vote for pension reform,” she continued.
During the meeting of the Renaissance group on Tuesday morning, the “macronist” deputies all came out in favor of a vote on the text, essential for the launch of the second five-year term of Emmanuel Macron, who moreover met Monday with the executives of the majority.
“There will be a vote. We want a vote. Everyone will take their responsibilities,” said the group’s president, Aurore Bergé, according to a participant in the meeting.
(Report Elizabeth Pineau, written by Blandine Hénault, edited by Kate Entringer)
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