After the Senate vote, late Saturday evening, a handful of advisers are busy behind the scenes to try to convince the deputies who are still hesitating. The entourage of the Prime Minister particularly targets unpredictable LR elected officials.
To avoid 49-3 and an adoption of the pension reform without a vote, the hunt for votes is open. And everything happens almost like in the series House Of Cards: secret dealings, meetings, phone calls. After the ministers in charge of the “pensions” file on Sunday March 12 at the end of the afternoon, it is the seven deputies and the seven senators of the famous CMP, the joint joint commission, who have an appointment at Matignon this Monday after -noon.
>>> “It can move until the last moment”: will the Republican deputies vote for the pension reform?
Objective: start working on the version of the text on which they will have to agree behind closed doors, from Wednesday 9 a.m. The government will not attend, but it intends to pull all the strings to ensure white smoke. During this time, the ministers are instructed to survey the plateaus, in order to ensure by sticking out their chests that they are convinced of having a majority.
LR, “a group of autoentrepreneurs”
A handful of advisers are also active behind the scenes, phones screwed to their ears, to try to convince the deputies who are still hesitating. “Do not give the feeling that we are neglecting anyone”, breathes a minister. The calculators are out to count and recount each vote for one purpose: to avoid the forced passage which would be experienced as an explosion or worse, as a provocation towards public opinion.
In the sights of the executive, there are – of course – the Republican deputies, constantly called to responsibility. In politics, it is said that they have the key to the ballot… Enough to cause trouble. “It’s a group of self-employed people”, annoys even a faithful of Emmanuel Macron. In other words, at LR, everyone does what they please in a free spirit way. It is therefore impossible to know if the deputies on the right will follow their fellow senators, in the event of a vote on Thursday. “It will be played with one vote”, worries without exaggerating a member of the majority.
Ciotti and Marleix, “reliable partners”
For weeks, Olivier Marleix, the president of the LR group in the Assembly, and Eric Ciotti, the boss of the party, have been particularly pampered. The two men are judged as “reliable partners” by Matignon. Moreover, with them, Elisabeth Borne exchanges among other things on the famous 43 years of contributions for long careers, the premium for mothers, but also the “CDI seniors” voted in the Senate.
Will all these maneuvers be enough to win the forty votes missing to get the text voted on? In any case, this is the estimate circulating in the government. “We don’t want 49-3”, thus assured Sunday evening Olivier Véran, the government spokesperson. The whole question is whether he will really have a choice.