“The decision of the Constitutional Council is essential but, because it is ill-founded and poorly reasoned in law, it cannot close the pension dispute. »

2023-04-16 04:30:11

Iuseless to look into the mode of appointment of the members of the Constitutional Council, in their political past, in the updating of the particular interests and connivances of each other for who wants to discuss the decision of Friday April 14. It suffices, simply, to read it for the criticism to come out:

« § 65. Finally, the fact that certain ministers reportedly issued, during their speeches in the National Assembly and in the media, initially erroneous estimates of the amount of retirement pensions that will be paid to certain categories of insured persons, is irrelevant. on the procedure for adopting the law referred once these estimates have been debated. » Huge !

« § 69. On the other hand, the fact that several procedures provided for by the Constitution and by the regulations of the assemblies were used cumulatively to accelerate the examination of the referred law, is not in itself of such a nature as to render unconstitutional the whole of the legislative procedure that led to the adoption of this law. » Huge !

« § 70. In this case, while the combined use of the procedures implemented was unusual in response to the conditions of the debates, it did not have the effect of rendering the legislative procedure unconstitutional. Consequently, the referred law was adopted according to a procedure in conformity with the Constitution.. » Huge !

« § 11. On the other hand, while the provisions relating to pension reform, which do not fall within this mandatory area, could have been included in an ordinary law, the choice originally made by the Government to include them in the within an amending finance law does not, in itself, disregard any constitutional requirement. It is not for the Constitutional Council to substitute its assessment for that of the legislator in this respect, but only to ensure that these provisions relate to one of the categories mentioned in article LO 111-3-12 of the Code. of social security. » Huge!

Read also: Pensions: what the Constitutional Council kept or excluded from the various referrals

The Constitutional Council thus recognizes that ministers have issued “erroneous estimates” during parliamentary debates, that several procedures were used “cumulatively” to speed up the adoption of the law and that the combined use of the procedures implemented has a “unusual character”.

A doubt about the legal validity of the decision

It was therefore logical in law for him to conclude that the principle of clarity and sincerity of parliamentary debates had not been respected. However, he judges that all these defects do not render the entire legislative procedure unconstitutional. Obviously, the conclusion does not follow logically from the premises and this discrepancy opens up room for doubt on the legal validity of the decision.

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