FRENCH PDT OF SENATE GERARD LARCHER ANSWERS THE JOURNALISTS AT PRESS CONFERENCE

USPA NEWS - The President of the Senate answered questions on Thursday morning from the Association of Parliamentary Journalists. An event that you could follow on Public Sénat. Very critical of the government's method, Gérard Larcher asked for the postponement of the examination of the pension reform in Parliament and to await the conclusions of the financing conference.
From 10:30 am, special broadcast on Public Sénat, which retransmits the press conference of the return of the president LR of the Senate Gérard Larcher. The meeting, organized by the Association of Parliamentary Journalists, is an opportunity for him to express himself on the current political context and in particular on pension reform.

"THE FRENCH HAVE TAKEN A YEAR FROM SKEPTICISM TO DEFIANCE"--------------------------------------------------- At the start of 2020, the President of the Senate began by recalling his wishes for the past year. "We were then in the midst of the yellow vests crisis and I wanted our country to return to the path of appeasement, dialogue, respect for republican order. I was wondering about this French mystery: how can a country where the tax pressure beats world records and where redistribution is so exemplary can live periods of such strong tensions? I hoped that France would return to the path of social dialogue at the level of a great democracy, like our European neighbors. The least we can say is that my wishes have not really been granted, "he lamented.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this second part of the quinquennium, the period he calls "New World season 2", Gérard Larcher makes several disturbing observations. “A hard social conflict, consequence of a reform so badly conducted that it could only lead to a mistake and therefore an impasse“ (“¦) “The state deficit is around 100 billion € and the latter will borrow 205 billion € in 2020, an absolute record “(“¦) or even“ reductions in compulsory levies are not funded, the Government having even given up on the objective of reducing the State's workforce “.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The President of the Senate also recalled the objectives of the executive, which he said were not achieved. "What remains of the big announcements on France's migration policy? Nothing has yet been done on European harmonization of asylum and immigration policies and the strengthening of the Union's external borders in particular ". "Where is the Renaissance of Europe promised in the last campaign for the European elections? Where is the great discourse on secularism that was announced to us? " "We were at the dawn of a new world and the day has not yet broken," he added. Consequently, for Gérard Larcher, "the French have gone in a year from skepticism to mistrust". I am convinced that nothing will be possible without confidence. Today there is distrust of the elites, politicians and the media. Only the mayors escape this great question of trust “.

"THE SENATE NEVER PLAYED OBSTRUCTION"-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The President of the Senate pointed out that the year 2019 had shown the importance of the "role and place of the Senate": "Bicameralism works. The Senate imprints its mark and influences a certain number of government projects “. He added that the Senate "never obstructed". He recalled that agreements with the National Assembly had taken place on texts such as "Commitment and proximity", "Energy and climate, GAFA tax" etc. : "76% of the texts were adopted after agreements between the two Assemblies". However Gerard Larcher insisted that the Senate also knew how to say no "when it seems to us contrary to the interest of the country". The President of the Senate has shelled "the important texts" which will be debated at the High Assembly, in the first half of 2020: bioethics in January, the European Public Prosecutor's Office, waste and the circular economy in February; pensions and the audiovisual sector in April and May. PRESIDENT CALLS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW OF PENSION REFORM-------------------- He asks the government to await the result of the financing conference, an idea proposed by the CFDT, and on which the government will vote this Friday. Gerard Larcher recalls that the Senate will make proposals for the future territorial reform.

THE “3D“ BILL DECENTRALIZATION DIFFERENTIATION AND DECONCENTRATION------------------------------------ The President of the Senate also addressed one of the other texts that will punctuate Parliament during the year: the "3D" bill, for "decentralization, differentiation, deconcentration". Gérard Larcher recalled that the senators would launch THE MIDDLE EAST AND NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION CRISIS AND THE VIENNA AGREEMENTS OF 2015---------- On the international level, Gérard Larcher deemed "the situation in Iraq worrying". "The rise in tensions in recent months in the Middle East has experienced a brutal escalation in recent months." "We are attentive to everything that can be a factor in de-escalation."------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The President of the Senate has two specific questions. "The nuclear proliferation crisis" on the one hand. "The parties to the 2015 Vienna agreement must, I believe, remain closely coordinated in order to call on Iran to quickly return to full compliance with its nuclear obligations," he advocates.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The question of the end of the presence or not of the coalition against terrorism in Iraq is also an important point. But also everything that is happening in the Shiite Sunni relationship in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq “. And what place of Europe in all this? He listed. Filiation: "It is not for the Court of Cassation to make the law". in the coming days "an approach to develop their proposals. "The Senate will take its place," he said. Several principles will guide their work: allowing local authorities to take on new powers or to soften their distribution between the different decision-making levels, promoting the free organization of territories, and of course, the principle of autonomy. These ideas will be validated with the three associations of elected officials united under the association "United Territories".

«THE SITUATION IN IRAQ IS WORRYING »-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While the High Assembly will examine in session from January 21 the bill on bioethics, Gerard Larcher stressed that the Senate committee had adopted an amendment excluding the transcription in civil status of birth certificates drawn up at the foreigner, in GPA cases. This is opposed to the judgment rendered by the Court of Cassation last December, allowing to recognize as parents of children born by GPA abroad, male couples: "It is well for the legislator to define and not to the Court of Cassation to make the law "declared the president of the Senate.Regarding senators' pensions: "It is an advantageous system" recognizes Gérard Larcher Asked about the retirement plan for senators, Gérard Larcher reaffirmed that it would soon be "adapted to the law" while acknowledging "that it was advantageous".--------------------------------------------------------- "It is an advantageous system today. You have to say things as they are, “admitted Gérard Larcher on Thursday, when asked about the senators' pension plan, joked for a few weeks including by members of the presidential majority. The President of the Senate takes care to specify that this pension scheme “is based on an over-contribution by parliamentarians. We pay 50% more than the deputies (...) I understand all this bashing but I remind you that democracy has a cost (..) the Senate budget is 325 million. We owe the French to account. Democracy is just under 5 euros per French person per year. " As he announced on Public Senate in December, Gérard Larcher confirmed that the retirement plans of senators and Senate officials would be "of course reformed." "We will have a basic systemic plan with undoubtedly a complementary plan". Finally, Gerard Larcher stressed that senators "should be treated like all French people". "We have a requirement for transparency". However, this reform led by a working group within the framework of the Senate office will not be implemented until the "known" pension reform bill has once again reminded Gérard Larcher. To be continued next article Part 2