(Paris) The deputies examine Monday in a tense climate two motions of censure against the French government, whose passage in force on the pension reform plunged the country into a political and social crisis, and ulcerated the opposition which denounced to the rostrum a “denial of democracy”.
First speaker at the podium, MP Charles de Courson, of the centrist group LIOT (Liberties, Independents Overseas and Territories), castigated “the injustice” of the flagship pension reform project of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term, denouncing the “denial of democracy” of 49.3.
In an electric atmosphere, marked by deputies who have left the hemicycle on several occasions according to the speakers, the parliamentarians debated the “transpartisan” motion of this group and another tabled by the National Rally (RN-extreme right ). The motions will then be submitted to the vote of the deputies in the evening.
These motions follow Thursday’s appeal by the government to Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows a text to be adopted without a vote if no motion of censure succeeds.
The postponement of the retirement age from 62 to 64 “crystallizes the tensions, the concerns and the anger of our fellow citizens”, estimated Mr. de Courson.
For their part, RN deputies denounced the “slump” and “stagnation” of the French executive. “So chick, Mr. Macron!” Let’s go to the dissolution, “said MP Laure Lavalette.
After two months of consultations and intense union and popular mobilization against the project, the executive’s forced passage with the use of 49.3 was vilified by the opposition.
Since January 19, hundreds of thousands of French people have demonstrated eight times to express their rejection of this reform.
Opponents consider it “unfair”, especially for women and workers in arduous jobs.
But this opposition must be united on Monday in the Assembly, from the far right to the radical left, and count on around thirty votes from the deputies Les Républicains (LR, traditional right) to overthrow the government, which only has a relative majority in the Assembly.
An improbable but not impossible scenario, as pressure mounts on parliamentarians.
For her part, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne denounced Monday at the podium “the anti-parliamentarism” of the oppositions and the “unleashing of violence” of certain left-wing deputies.
Ms. Borne added that she was “well aware of the [current] state of mind of our country” and of the “effort” that this reform “demands of many of our compatriots”.
The probable rejection of the motions will be worth final adoption of the reform, before its promulgation by President Macron, who could speak in the coming days.
France is one of the European countries where the legal retirement age is the lowest, without the pension systems being completely comparable. The government has chosen to extend working hours to respond to the financial deterioration of pension funds and the aging of the population.
Many analysts believe that this pension reform and the protests it has brought about will already leave an indelible mark on Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term.
Meanwhile, protests of anger and blockages continue. Blocked roads, disrupted transport, busy airport halls and campuses, mobilization actions in high schools…
Demonstrations on road interchanges or on ring roads in several cities have led to traffic slowdowns or blockages.
In Paris, garbage collection is still disrupted despite the requisitions ordered by the prefect.
Actions enamelled in the afternoon the launch of the baccalaureate specialty tests, even if the Minister of National Education, Pap Ndiaye, estimated that there were “no particular points of concern” .
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) has asked airlines to cancel Tuesday and Wednesday 20% of their flights at Paris-Orly and Marseille-Provence (South-East).
Many petrol stations were affected in the south-east of the country by fuel shortages, amid shipping strikes at refineries.
And Parisian students voted on Monday to occupy the Tolbiac faculty.
Two-thirds of French people (68%) say they feel angry after the use of 49.3 by the government, according to an Elabe poll for the BFMTV channel published on Monday. As many hope that the government falls on Monday evening.
