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Pension Reform

Jupiter Falling? Macron Govt in Jeopardy as Opposition Parties File Motions of No Confidence

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Opposition parties in France’s National Assembly, including Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally (RN) and the centrist Liot group, filed motions of no-confidence in President Emmanuel Macron’s government on Friday after it used a controversial mechanism to pass a contentious increase to the pension age without a vote on Thursday.

The fate of the government of Emmanuel Macron, who once proclaimed that he would govern France like Jupiter, the Roman king of the gods, was thrown into question on Friday as a growing coalition from across the political spectrum lined up to table measures of censure (no confidence) in his government in response to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne invoking article 49.3 of the constitution to ram through legislation to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 without a vote after it appeared that it would not gain a majority in the National Assembly.

If a measure of censure is adopted, President Macron’s minority government in the National Assembly would collapse, and Prime Minster Elisabeth Borne would be forced to resign, throwing into question Mr Macron’s political future just one year into his second term in office, Le Parisien reports.

Currently, Marine Le Pen’s populist right-wing National Rally (RN) and the Liot group of centrist MPs in the French parliament have tabled no-confidence measures.

In a statement, RN said: “While the French are massively demonstrating their opposition to this reform, the national representation has not, at any time, been able to vote on this text, which is, despite the legality of the process, a serious attack on democratic principles.”

The motion from Liot, a small group of just 20 members in the NA comprised of centre-left, centre-right, and Corsican nationalist parties was co-signed by the NUPES coalition led by the far-left socialist Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is often compared to Bernie Sanders in America or former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in Britain.

“The vote on this motion will allow us to get out on top of a deep political crisis,” said the head of the Liot group Bertrand Pancher.

Mélenchon, who is no longer a sitting member of the assembly, said that “we have decided to give censorship the greatest possible chances, to withdraw our own motion in favour of LIOT’s motion, a decision taken last night by the group.”

For a no-confidence motion to succeed in the National Assembly, it must receive 287 votes in favour. Combined, the Liot group, National Rally, and the NUPES coalition have a total of 259 members in the parliamentary body.

Crucially, the establishment-right Les Republicains (LR), which was key in preventing the minority Macron government from gaining a majority for his pension reform plans, have yet to formally back either motion.

The president of the LR, Éric Ciotti, said that his group would not support any motion of censure, however, claiming that “the crisis situation in the country would not tolerate … a fatal blow to our democracy”.

Yet it is unclear if all members of the 61-member party will vote in lockstep, with the party’s third highest-ranking member, secretary-general Aurélien Pradié, saying that all MPs are “totally free to participate in another motion of censure”

Should the disparate political factions come together to pass one of the motions, not only would the pension reforms be rejected, but the government would fall and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne would have to tender her resignation to President Macron, who in turn would likely be forced to dissolve the parliament.

The pension reforms, which would raise the retirement age to 64 — an age that would still be lower than other European nations such as Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom — have sparked nationwide trade union-organised protests, which have seen some of the largest demonstrations in decades.

Spontaneous protests broke out on Thursday evening across the country on Thursday following the government’s invocation of the loophole. Rioters clashed with police, smashed storefronts, and set fires in cities such as Paris, Nantes, and Marseilles, resulting in some 310 arrests.

The ability of rioters to start fires was greatly enhanced by a garbage workers’ strike, which has seen some 10,000 tonnes of waste left sitting out on the streets of Paris.

Protests continued throughout the day on Friday, with activists attempting to block a major ring road around the French capital and others staging blockades, including at the Port of Calais, which is responsible for traffic across the English Channel.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

Paris Burns: Hundreds Arrested as Rioters Set Trash Fires, Clash with Cops After Macron Tries to Pass Pension Reform Without a Vote

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Hundreds of people were arrested in Paris on Thursday evening as spontaneous protests and riots sprung up after President Emmanuel Macron’s government invoked a constitutional loophole to pass its controversial legislation to raise the retirement age without a vote in the National Assembly.

As of midnight Paris time, some 217 people were arrested in the French capital after the city erupted in rage after the National Assembly was bypassed by the globalist Macron government which used article 49.3 of the constitution to pass through its controversial plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64-years-old by the year 2030 in order to keep the programme from going under.

The ‘city of light’ was set ablaze by radicals who set fires across Paris, enabled, in part by the fact that tonnes of trash littered the streets as a result of a garbage workers strike also in response to the pension reform plans, Le Parisien reported.

Rioters also set fire to barricades and clashed with police, who deployed water cannons and tear gas canisters in response.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin also asked for police to give extra protection to senators and MPs amid the growing anger among the populace. This was said to be a precaution.

While a national trade-union-organised protest against the government is planned for next Thursday, leftist activists are reportedly planning on staging blockades of key infrastructure throughout France in the meantime. Previously, radicals blocked off the entrances to ports and energy refineries in order to put pressure on the government.

According to the BFMTV broadcaster, riots were also witnessed in the city of Nantes, where some 3,500 people flooded out onto the streets. Again, protesters set fire to mounds of garbage that were piled up as a result of the strike. Radicals were also witnessed throwing Molotov cocktails and makeshift missiles at police officers.

Over a dozen storefronts were also damaged in the chaos. The same could be said in Marseille, where rioters smashed windows and painted the fronts of shops with graffiti, with banks and high-end clothing stores being the primary targets.

According to the broadcaster, radicals shouted: “fuck the bourgeoisie”, “we’re going to blow it all up”, “let’s burn everything”, and “Marseille stand up, get up!”

Meanwhile, in Lyon, hundreds also gathered in the city centre to protest the government, where they reportedly smashed the windows of the City Hall building before police used tear gas to disperse the crowds.

Despite the government bypassing the National Assembly on Thursday, opponents of the retirement age rise have not been completely defeated yet. On Friday, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the populist right-wing National Rally (RN) is expected to table a motion of no confidence, which is likely to receive the support of the far-left in parliament.

Should the measure be successful, it would likely force Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, the second-highest-ranking official in the government, to resign, and possibly force President Macron to dissolve parliament.

If the no-confidence vote fails, there is still the option of appealing for a national referendum to quash the legislation, meaning that the fight over the issue to raise the retirement age is likely to continue to rage for the foreseeable future.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka