It is difficult to refute, even within the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), that the recent debate in the National Assembly on pension reform illustrated the tensions and disagreements that can undermine, on certain subjects, the left-wing alliance founded on the occasion of the legislative elections.
According to Boris Vallaud, the president of the socialist group in the Assembly, questioned in The Sunday newspaper (JDD) of February 16, “La Nupes did not show its best face” during this bumpy parliamentary sequence which saw the socialist, environmentalist and communist deputies on one side, and the elected representatives of insubordinate France (LFI) on the other, opposing each other on the strategy to follow.
The former wanted to speed up the process to arrive at the discussion on the article of the law relating to the postponement of the retirement age to 64 years. The latter maintained thousands of amendments and the debates got bogged down before reaching this famous article 7.
“By our disunity, I fear that we have moved away from our double mission: to be at the service of those who have only their work to live and to be the fulcrum of the social movement”explains Mr. Vallaud to the weekly.
“The Assembly is not a tea room”
“The Nupes is a union of four: we must respect each other, which does not prevent disagreements. But we must remain within a common regulatory framework, and hold our positions when we decide on them together. We have come out of this common framework and in some respects from the Assembly itself”he adds.
Boris Vallaud also deplores the excesses of certain LFI deputies, one of them even calling the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, a« assassin » in the middle of the hemicycle. “The Assembly is not a tea room. There is room for passion and anger, but the limit is slippage, threats and insults.he says.
Like the ecologists who are calling for an act II of the Nupes, he calls for a reflection on the future functioning of the coalition.
“We can give it the name we want but yes, for Nupes, there must be an after. It is possible and essential. This after must be more collective and more respectful of differences”he said.
“After the battle for pensions, I suggest that we find a time to talk together”, argues Mr. Vallaud, pleading in particular for “an operating charter” of the parliamentary intergroup “to improve consultation and regulation between us”.