MEPs voted against article 2 of the bill, which aims to require companies to publish an employment indicator for older employees.
A setback for the government? His idea of senior indexes, integrated into the pension reform project, was rejected by the National Assembly on Tuesday, February 14. This system required companies to publish a specific indicator, based on the model of the gender equality index, to encourage them to retain end-of-career employees in their workforce. But the deputies voted mainly against article 2 of the amending social security financing bill (PLFRSS) which provided for its creation.
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While the examination of the reform continues normally until Friday midnight at the Palais-Bourbon, franceinfo returns in three questions on this vote.
1Why was article 2 on the senior index rejected?
With 256 votes against 203, he therefore lacked a majority of 53 votes for Article 2 of his reform bill to be adopted on Tuesday evening, shortly before midnight. How to explain this defeat of the government on this point of the text? Of the 577 deputies, only 467 took part in the vote, a figure which is not unusual for a ballot on a bill article, and not on the text as a whole.
To inflict on the government a judged defeat “incomprehensible” by his spokesperson, Olivier Véran, on Wednesday, the oppositions of Nupes and the National Rally were able to count on the support of the Republicans. Of the 44 LR deputies present, 38 voted against and 6 abstained, a sign of major opposition to this specific provision within the parliamentary right.
2How do LR elected officials justify their vote against the index?
No LR parliamentarian voted in favor of this article on Tuesday evening. “We had decided in the group to vote against this article”, “a kind of thing that was going to weigh on the daily work of companies”, explained Wednesday on France 2 the boss of the Republicans, Eric Ciotti. The LR deputies pleaded in particular for incentives for companies instead of this “alibi article”according to the elected representative of the Alpes-Maritimes.
Eric Ciotti adds to his arguments the idea that this senior index would be unconstitutional. This flagship measure of the government could, it is true, be challenged by the Constitutional Council, as franceinfo explains. According to some observers, this measure does not meet the conditions required to be included in a financial text such as that of the pension reform.
Beyond these technical aspects, the LRs have a particular political role in this sequence. While Elisabeth Borne had made a gesture towards right-wing deputies earlier in the day, with a concession on long careers, the group has decided to maintain its position against the senior index. Officially, the Republicans voted a motion on Tuesday to ensure that they still wanted to vote for the reform as a whole. Nevertheless, doubts remain, within the group, on the solidity of the agreement between the party and the government for the rest of the text. “The deal made between the Prime Minister and the leaders of LR is not held by the whole group”, summarized the previous week at franceinfo an influential deputy, according to whom Les Républicains are not “not the best partner of the century” for the executive.
3Is the senior index definitely buried?
Not really. MPs should not have time to vote on the bill as a whole, if the government decides not to extend the debates beyond Friday evening. After this date, the reform must arrive in the Senate and the index could be reintroduced by the government in the continuation of the parliamentary shuttle. This is also the stated will of the executive.
“It won’t come back” in the pension reform, however predicted Wednesday morning a Renaissance deputy with franceinfo. “The Republican senators will play for consistency with the deputies” by not going back on the vote against article 2. “It will come back in Olivier Dussopt’s law on full employment”however, warns this member of the majority.