All labour unions are fighting the reform of the clubs, the majority of the citizens are also against it (the reform has a support of 32%, according to Ifop’s last interrogation) and Members did not have the vote either. But, in keeping with the position of passing the reform yes or yes, the French Government has decided to avoid the way of voting synonymous with debate and democracy: Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows the vote to be circumvented, will allow the reform of the retas to pass. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced the decision between shouting and beeping:

This afternoon the Members voted on the text and the Minister of Labour, Olivier Dussopt, envisaged very close competition: majority support was not assured, and if or if the Republican LR on the right needed the support of Members to pass the reform. The fact is that this afternoon I followed the calculations of the political groups around Macron, which was unclear about that support. About twenty of the 61 Members of the Republican LR Group clearly state that they would vote against, ten others have not clarified their vote. Too dangerous for the government, because without that guarantee reform cannot be voted on.

The question is mathematics: of the 577 MEPs, 250 are from Macron, 170 from his party and 80 centrists, so it needs another 39 votes to reach the majority. It will not receive them on the left or on the far right, and it needs some 40 votes from the LR on the right, knowing that only some of Macron supporters will vote against the text or abstain.

Therefore, the support of the joint CMP Joint Committee for the latest version of the reform the previous day was not sufficient: ten of the fourteen parliamentarians voted in favour, including the four from the LR. To this end, the representatives of Macron adopted almost all the amendments on the right. A vote that undoubtedly brought relief to the government, although it was not enough. In the Senate, however, the reform received broad support on the morning of 16 March: 193 in favour, 114 against and 38 abstentions.

Last obstacle: motion of censure

The use of Article 49.3 allows the opposition to table a motion of censure. At the moment we know that the left will present one, also the ends of the right, and the centrist group in the opposition, Liot, has also presented a more protected third party, a text that, as has been known, the Republican LR would support some.

If the motion of censure were to be voted by the majority, then the government would fall and be the elections to Parliament again. As could not be otherwise, for Marine Le Penen, your motion of censure will not pass without the support of the left. As for reform of the retas, Le Pen announces that he would support all the motions of censure, but the Left does not want to make gestures to the extreme right. In any case, the path of the Liot centrists is the most fruitful.

In the meantime, thousands of citizens make their discomfort heard before Parliament: