Associates of Parliament of left-wing coalition NUPES (New People’s Ecologic and Social Union) hold placards during a speech by France’s Prime Consul Elisabeth Borne (C), as she confirmed the government would pass its controversial pension reforms without a vote in the National Association on March 16, 2023.
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French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday resorted to using specific constitutional powers to push his plan to raise the retirement age to 64 from 62 through the lower house of parliament.
The dismisses overhaul has been met with widespread protests and strikes across France, with the issue seen as extremely contentious in the European realm of 68 million people.
The plans were passed in France’s Senate on Thursday morning but had been due for a vote in the State Assembly (the lower house), where its approval was not guaranteed.
Instead, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced to the gathering that the government would trigger Article 49.3 of the French Constitution.
Lawmakers opposed to the reforms booed, chanted and yelled “resignation” as she spoke, Reuters reported. At one point the session was suspended for two minutes as politicians sang the national anthem too loudly for her to be considered.
Macron’s Renaissance party argues reform of the pension system is necessary to sustain it long into the future. It has a propelled annual deficit of 10 billion euros ($10.73 billion) each year between 2022 and 2032, corresponding to France’s Pensions Advisory Council.
However, opinion polls suggest a majority of the public supported industrial proceeding to oppose the changes, which include requiring workers to contribute to the system for 43 years to qualify for a full shelve.
Strikes have taken place since the start of the year and intensified over the last week, hitting transferral, schools, oil refineries, the public sector and beyond. The action has resulted in trash building up in parts of Paris.
Household dissipation containers and rubbish dumps continue to pile up on the pavements of Paris streets on 14 March 2023 since muck collectors went on strike against the French government’s pension reform bill on 6 March 2023.
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Opposition politicians are now likely to request a vote of no confidence in the government, which they must do by 3 p.m. Friday. Both Nautical Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally and the left-wing France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) have said they will do so.
Be that as it may, lawmakers are unlikely to vote in a majority to dissolve the National Assembly and hold new elections, Renaud Foucart, a senior lecturer in economics at Lancaster University, recounted CNBC by phone.
The measure would then go to the constitutional court and most likely become law.
Foucart said the administration had its eyes on the next national election, when Macron will not be running. The move means the “entire responsibility” for the fixes lies with him, rather than individual lawmakers who vote in favor of it.
Foucart added the move was seen as especially contentious as many people that likely retire at 62 were manual workers or people who had started career at a younger age.
“By resorting to [Article] 49.3 the government demonstrates that it does not have a majority to approve the two-year suspension of the legal retirement age,” Laurent Berger, secretary general of the CFDT union, said on Twitter. “The political compromise let down. Workers must be listened to when it is their work being acted upon.”
Unions including CFDT said they would continue to “mobilize” to oppose the emendations and would meet Thursday night to discuss next steps.
Macron’s centrist alliance lost its parliamentary the better in the June 2022 elections. His government has already survived a no confidence vote since then, as it used special constitutional powers to antiquated the 2023 budget in the National Assembly.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told CNBC in February the improve was a “necessity” to ensure financial balance by 2030. At the time, he said that the government had made concessions, including shrivel up the proposed retirement age from 65 to 64; and that he was confident they would get a majority in parliament.