After the vote in the Senate, fourteen parliamentarians will have to develop a common version of the text on Wednesday during a meeting behind closed doors.
The pension reform continues its legislative path. After being adopted by the right-wing majority in the Senate, the text will be the subject of a parliamentary discussion within a joint committee (CMP) organized on Wednesday March 15. Seven deputies and seven senators will therefore be responsible for agreeing on a final version of the text, which will then have to be submitted to the vote of the two chambers of Parliament.
Who makes up this committee?
The distribution of the commission depends on political balances. The mixed parity committee brings together seven deputies, seven senators and as many substitutes (but the latter do not take part in the vote). Since 2009, both the Senate and the National Assembly have sent four representatives of their majority and three of their opposition, as explained by the Senate website and the legal news site Dalloz. In the Senate, the representatives are appointed by the commission following the text. That of social affairs in this case. In the Assembly, the political groups appoint their representatives.
Among the seven deputies called to sit on the joint committee, there are therefore three Renaissance deputies (Fadila Khattabi, Stéphanie Rist, Sylvain Maillard), a representative of the MoDem (Philippe Vigier), a member of the Republicans (Olivier Marleix) , one from the National Rally (Thomas Ménagé) and a deputy from La France insoumise (Mathilde Panot). On the side of the senators, there are three elected Republicans (Catherine Deroche, René-Paul Savary, Philippe Mouiller), one from the UDI (Elisabeth Doineau), one from the Renaissance (Xavier Iacovelli) and two senators from the Socialist Party (Monique Lubin and Corinne Feret). To find an agreement, the majority and its Republican allies are therefore represented in force, with 9 members out of 14.
How does it work?
On Wednesday, from 9 a.m., the CMP will bring together its members in a closed room at the Palais Bourbon. This is a very common tool for harmonizing the texts voted on in the Assembly and the Senate. Dince the last legislative elections, in June 2022, 14 bills have thus been the subject of a joint committee, recalls LCP. The objective is to reach a compromise on a common version of the text, by agreeing on the measures that the Assembly and the Senate have not voted on in the same terms. “The text, the basis of the discussion, is the last text voted, that is to say the one adopted by the last assembly seized before the meeting”, says the Senate. The commission can then rewrite the articles on the proposal of its members.
Unusually, this CMP will study a text that was not voted on by the Assembly. Because the deputies could not vote in the allotted time. This means that the CMP will have a margin of freedom to rewrite a text that suits the Senate as well as the government. The votes within the committee take place by a show of hands, and in the event of a tie, the article is not adopted. Due to political balances, the heart of the text, the raising of the retirement age from 62 to 64, should not change.
If the government is not present in the joint committee, it can however try to influence the debates behind the scenes. “We will work to find a compromise. (…) We have preparatory meetings scheduled from tomorrow“confirms Senator Xavier Iacovelli, member of the joint committee, interviewed by franceinfo on Sunday.
What happens in case of failure?
If the joint committee does not find a compromise – a relatively improbable scenario at present – the legislative procedure will then be lengthened. The text will come back for a new reading in the National Assembly, then in the Senate, and finally in the Assembly, if the two versions of the text have still not converged.
The oppositions can then try to slow down the final examination of the text by submitting new amendments. And time is running out, since the Parliament is forced to decide in total in 50 days, that is to say by March 26 at midnight. After this deadline, if no text is voted, the provisions of the reform may be implemented by ordinance by the government, according to the Constitution.
And in case of agreement?
In this case, the text will again be submitted to the vote in the Senate on Thursday at 9 a.m. for a final validation, then in the National Assembly for a final vote at 3 p.m. It should be noted that it is no longer possible to modify a text of law after a so-called “conclusive” mixed joint commission, that is to say when a compromise has been found.
On the other hand, the government is still not entirely sure of having a sufficient majority in the Assembly to adopt its bill. Faced with this suspense, the executive could resign itself to resorting in Article 49.3 of the Constitution. The latter allows adoption without a vote, but exposes it to the risk of a motion of censure.
What can the opposition do?
While waiting for Wednesday, the left and far right oppositions are sharpening their arguments. “A CMP is fourteen guys who agree behind closed doors”confides a pillar of La France insoumise to franceinfo. “It’s going to be a huge democratic problem”, anticipates a framework of the National Rally. The idea that comes up the most is that the joint committee would be “a denial of democracy”. Even without 49.3, the oppositions also have the possibility of attempting to overthrow the government by a vote of no confidence. They shouldn’t hesitate to do so. Finally, they have already planned to seize the Constitutional Council, in particular to denounce the recourse to article 38 of the rules of the Senate.