Good evening Amended and Who wonders,
Allow us to answer your questions by outlining the arguments put forward by both sides, which will allow us to kill two birds with one stone. The Nupes has indeed been divided on the question since the arrival of the text in the Assembly at the end of January: whether or not to discuss article 7, relating to the key measure of this reform, which provides for the postponement of retirement age from 62 to 64?
For socialists, ecologists, and communists, the discussion of the totem article of this pension reform was essential, as the age measurement is considered unfair and is the most contested measure of the bill by the French. . It is also around the age measurement that the unions united in the showdown against the government and succeeded in being mobilized in the street; this is why the CGT and the CFDT urged left-wing deputies to debate this article until the last moment. The PS, EELV and PCF deputies thus withdrew, between Wednesday and Thursday, most of their amendments tabled before the article, hoping that this would lead to an acceleration of the debates and a change of strategy among their “rebellious” allies.
But at La France insoumise, the question divides until the last moment. Some, like François Ruffin, agree with the need to discuss Article 7. “It’s the knot, what matters to people. This is the moment when we will be able to evoke their life, confront it with technocracy “, he said in an interview with Release at the beginning of February.
On the other side, other deputies, following in the footsteps of their leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon – absent from the benches of the Assembly but who is still very influential there – consider that it would be a mistake to sideline the rest of the debates and measures that they wish to take in order to examine this article, on which they believe they have already made their opposition heard enough and believe that they would in any case be defeated during the vote, because of the alliance between the majority and the right around the age of 64.
Thursday evening, Mr. Mélenchon thus judged “incomprehensible” the withdrawal of the communist amendments, in a tweet. “Why rush to Article 7? The rest of the law doesn’t count? Eager to get beaten? », he asked. The same evening, during a meeting in Montpellier, the former presidential candidate then declared: “Don’t let yourself be brainwashed by those who tell you that you have to go straight to article 7”. Even if it means being the target of attacks from the presidential majority, the oppositions and their own allies.
LFI therefore decided on a common position in a group meeting on Thursday afternoon and the result proved to be symptomatic of the internal divide: with one vote, the deputies gave up withdrawing all of their amendments at once.