French President Emmanuel Macron faces no-confidence votes on Monday after his decision to push through unpopular pension reforms sparked nationwide protests and criticism from lawmakers.
Macron’s government will likely survive the motions, and he will remain president regardless of the outcome, although the fury over reforms shows no sign of abating.
The French government unleashed special constitutional powers on Thursday to pass controversial legislation to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 for most workers.
On Friday (17), French lawmakers introduced two motions of no confidence against the prime minister – one from a group of small parties and the other from the National Rally, an extreme right-wing party.
To succeed, a majority of incumbent lawmakers — 287 of them — would need to vote in favor.
If successful, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne would have to resign and the pension reform legislation would be rejected. That would leave French President Emmanuel Macron with the option of replacing the prime minister or dissolving parliament.
The move to overthrow Macron’s government is believed to be unlikely to succeed, as the pension reforms also have the backing of the Republican Party, making it harder for other opposition parties to win the necessary outright majority.
“There will be no majority for these no-confidence votes. Responsibly, we don’t want to add chaos to chaos and let our country sink into disarray,” tweeted Republican group leader Eric Ciotti.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire also played down suggestions that the vote could be successful.
“There won’t be a majority to overthrow the government, but it will be a moment of truth,” Le Maire told local newspaper Le Parisien.
“I understand the fears and anxieties of our compatriots, but we are definitely not going to make things better by denying economic reality,” he added.
With one of the lowest retirement ages in the industrialized world, France also outspends most other countries on pensions at nearly 14% of economic output, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation.
The government argues that the current system – relying on the working population to pay for a growing age group of retirees – is no longer fit for purpose.
However, the protests were aimed not just at pension reform, but at the constitutional power used to enforce it.
Unable to gain majority support for the bill in parliament, Macron resorted to using Article 49.3, which allowed his government to pass the bill in the National Assembly without a vote.
The measure was widely condemned by protesters and lawmakers as undemocratic.
“We are facing a president who uses a permanent coup d’état,” Olivier Faure, leader of the French Socialist Party, told local media on Thursday.
In total, 169 people were detained during protests across France on Saturday (18), according to the Ministry of the Interior.
Unions have called strikes and protests across the country for next Thursday (23), hoping to bring the country to a standstill.
Source: CNN Brasil
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