French government narrowly survives two motions of no confidence in pension plan: grim atmosphere in Paris, police charge | Abroad

The first no-confidence motion was tabled by the LIOT group and was considered the most threatening of the two before the vote today. 278 MPs voted in favour, but it took 287 to pass the motion. Nine votes short, then.

A second vote of no confidence, from the far-right Rassemblement national (RN), also failed. He only got 94 votes. That meant that Macron’s pension reform was finally approved and that the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne remained intact.

The government does not have a majority in the National Assembly. The party Les Républicains (LR) therefore played a key role in the vote. The only motion that could get the crucial vote of LR parliamentarians was that of the small group LIOT. But she could only please 19 members of the party.

The motions were tabled after Borne used a constitutional article (49.3) to change the pension system without parliamentary approval. The pension plan – which, among other things, raises the retirement age from 62 to 64 years by 2030 – is under enormous fire in France. From 2027, employees will also have to have worked for 43 years in order to receive a full pension.

The atmosphere in Paris has been grim since the vote on the two motions. The police charged and used tear gas against the demonstrators. There are also disturbances in Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Nantes and Lyon. Some demonstrators set up blockades, started fires and caused destruction. Slogans were chanted against President Macron.

Activists and trade unions have already announced that they will continue to protest in the coming days.

President Macron does not come out of this saga unscathed. In an attempt to get things in the same direction again, he will consult widely on Tuesday. In the morning he consults with Prime Minister Borne, the main ministers involved in the pension plans and the chairmen of the majority parties. Then the presidents of the Assembly and of the Senate come by. In the evening, Macron sees the representatives and senators of the majority.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, in turn, will “directly” approach the Constitutional Council to “immediately” scrutinize the text of the controversial pension reform. Matignon, the official residence of the French Prime Minister, announced this on Monday evening. Borne wants “all points raised during the (parliamentary) debates to be examined,” it says.