in the Senate, the right triggers for the first time article 38 closing the debates, the left cries out for a “gag”

On the night of Tuesday March 7 to Wednesday March 8, the right-wing senatorial majority gave a big boost to the examination of article 7 of the pension reform on raising the legal retirement age to 64. years. It was a little before 1 a.m. when the president of the group The Republicans, Bruno Retailleau, asked for the use of section 38 of the internal regulations of the Senate. This article, which had never been used since the revision of the rules in 2015, makes it possible to shorten the debates. Its application was voted on by a show of hands despite the outcry of left-wing senators, who ended up leaving the hemicycle.

>> Why article 38 of the Senate regulations worried the left before the debates on the pension reform

The debates ended after an amendment to rewrite Article 7 which caused the majority of the left-wing amendments to be dropped. “Shame on you! (…) You let yourself be gagged by article 47-1 of the Constitution, you now want to gag the opposition”, denounced the socialist Patrick Kanner. Same anger on the part of the elected communist Elianne Assassi: “Recourse to this procedure is an act of weakness. It is an attack on democracy!”

This item 38 of the internal regulations of the Senate may apply to speaking on an article, explanations of vote on an amendment or on an article, or even explanations of vote on an entire text.