(Finance) – The protests do not stop in France after the government’s decision to appeal in article 49 paragraph 3 to approve the hotly contested pension reform which effectively raises the retirement age from 62 to 64 years old. To raise the bar of tension – already high – the move (surprise according to many) by the president Emmanuel Macron who “jumped” Parliament.
Yesterday, the National Assembly should have voted for the decisive go-ahead for the measure. But the French president, fearing he didn’t have the numbers, decided to ask the question of confidence in the reform, approving the measure without the vote of the deputies. “We can’t play with the future of the country”: thus the French president, intervening in the council of ministers, would have justified the decision to resort to article 49.3 of the constitution. Over this morning 200 protesters poured out on the ring road blocking traffic and forcing motorists to proceed at a crawl. Yesterday, night of clashes in Paris and with bins set on fire and the police shooting tear gas.
With the government’s choice to ask the question of trust, the pension reform, therefore, it has become law. Provided that the motions of censure that will be presented within 24 hours and discussed on Monday do not collect the majority of votes.
In fact, if the motion of censure were majority, the government of Elisabeth Borne would be defeated and Macron would have to appoint a new prime minister and a new executive. The law on which the trust has been placed would also fall.
“The challenge is to guarantee a future for our pension system,” she reiterated several times Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne defending the reform. “I know it is an important effort for the French to work for another two years – He admitted – but to believe that everything can be paid with debts, that is not serious”.