At the initiative of the Communists, 98 deputies from the Nupes filed a request for a referendum on the pension reform project, a request which will be debated by the Assembly on February 6, at the opening of the parliamentary debate. This “referendum motion” aims to suspend the examination of the government project, presented Monday in the Council of Ministers, to start that same day in the hemicycle, in order to submit the text to a referendum and thus “give the floor back to the people on this crucial choice for its future,” according to a statement from the Left Alliance.
Strongly opposed to the postponement to 64 of the legal retirement age, like the whole of Nupes, the president of the PCF Fabien Roussel assured this Tuesday on CNews that “the government has chosen to block and confrontation, a choice that serves the interests of France”. “We have to come out on top of this crisis. This is the reason why we propose to give the floor back to the people and to do so by means of a referendum” to “break this impasse”, he justified. “I hope that we will discuss calmly together and that we choose,” he further argued.
The four leaders of Nupes in the Assembly signed the motion, André Chassaigne (PCF), Mathilde Panot (LFI), Boris Vallaud (PS) and Cyrielle Chatelain (EELV). It must still be deemed admissible in order to be debated.
Massive opposition in public opinion
The government’s project “arouses the opposition of an overwhelming majority of French men and women and an unprecedented social mobilization”, they justified in the explanatory memorandum, where they believe that “a referendum is a real democratic duty”. “The pension reform is a tax on life! On people’s lives! This is the reality! “, Stormed Boris Vallaud on Sud Radio.
If they managed to get the motion voted on on February 6 by the Assembly, the motion would be immediately transmitted to the Senate, which should decide within 30 days. And even adopted by the two chambers, it is only a referendum proposal made to the President, free or not to follow it up.
The leader of deputies RN Marine Le Pen indicated on Monday that she would also table such a “referendum motion” in the Assembly.
Asked about this option this Tuesday morning on LCI, Gabriel Attal rejected it. “We had a real debate in the country on the question of pensions at the time of the presidential and legislative elections. Retirement – at 65 at the time – I heard about it! “, recalled the Minister of Public Accounts. And to add that “in the legislative elections, several parties have proposed programs with a decline in the starting age”, in particular the Republicans. “If we do the math, there is therefore a majority in Parliament” in favor of this point of the reform.