“we don’t want 49.3”, assures Olivier Véran

Will the government use Article 49.3 of the Constitution to have its pension reform adopted without a vote? This is the central question of the decisive week which opens for this contested bill. “We don’t want 49.3. We want to transform our relative majority into an absolute majority and we have given ourselves the means to do so by gradually developing our project”assured Olivier Véran, the government spokesperson, after a meeting in Matignon with the head of government Elisabeth Borne and several ministers.

This meeting with the Ministers of Economy Bruno Le Maire, Labor Olivier Dussopt, Public Accounts Gabriel Attal and Relations with Parliament Franck Riester, aimed to learn from the adoption of the text by the Senate, Saturday evening at first reading. “We must be able to confirm this positive vote of the senators”believes Olivier Véran.

From Wednesday, a joint joint committee (CMP) bringing together senators and deputies will seek to develop a compromise text. If agreed, it will be submitted Thursday for final adoption in the Senate and then in the National Assembly, where the vote should be very close. This suspense in the lower house of parliament has revived speculation about the government’s recourse to article 49.3 which allows adoption without a vote but exposes the executive to a motion of censure.