Macron narrowly survives no confidence motions amid pension protests

London: French President Emmanuel Macron’s government has narrowly survived a no confidence motion sparked by its decision to bypass the National Assembly to push through a deeply unpopular change to the pension system.

A vote brought on by a centrist party which also had the backing of several left-wing parties such as the Green Party and the Socialist Party, fell just nine short of the 287 needed for it to succeed, attracting some 278 MPs.

A second motion of no confidence, tabled by the far-right National Rally won just 94 votes in the chamber after other opposition parties said they would not vote for it.

The speaker of the National Assembly, Yael Braun-Pivet, said the failure of both votes meant parliament had adopted the pension bill.

A successful no-confidence vote would have almost certainly brought down the government, probably forcing new elections. The legislation increases the retirement age by two years to 64. It still faces a review by the Constitutional Council before it can be signed into law.

Opposition parties will challenge the bill in the council, which could decide to strike down some or all of it – if it considers it breaches the constitution but in the past it has tended to approve changes.

Far-left MPs react as they hold papers reading: “64 years. It is no”, “appointment in the street”, “we are continuing”, at the National Assembly in Paris.Credit: AP

Violent unrest has erupted across the country and trade unions promised to intensify their strike action, leaving Macron to face the most dangerous challenge to his authority since the “yellow vest” uprising over four years ago.

Macron’s decision to use special constitutional powers, known as 49.3, to force the legislation through last week angered many, with protesters clashing with police at the weekend over the reforms. Thousands lit fires around the country and some threw firecrackers at police.

Some left MPs have called for Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who invoke the clause, to resign.

A ninth nationwide day of strikes and protests is scheduled for Thursday. Union and protesters said they would carry on with strikes and protests.

A man passes by fires set by protesters in Lyon, central France, after parliament adopted the divisive pension bill.Credit: AP

Charles de Courson, France’s longest-serving MP and the author of one of the two no-confidence votes, told France Inter radio that bringing the government down was “the only way of stopping the social and political crisis in this country”.

Macron’s allies are in a minority in the lower house of the National Assembly, but for the no-confidence motions to succeed, all of the opposition had to unite.

France’s Republican party holds 61 seats, and last week their leader, Eric Ciotti, said they would not support the no-confidence motions.

French President Emmanuel Macron.Credit: AP

But the outcome of the vote suggests that some 20 representatives from the centre-right party Les Republicains supported the no-confidence motion, or about one-third of their parliamentary group.

Aurélien Pradié, a Republican MP who led a small rebellion within his party to the pension bill, told BFMTV that the vote’s result did nothing to change the state of tension.

“One would have to be absolutely blind to be content and satisfied with this situation,” he said, as he urged Macron to withdraw the overhaul, even now that it had passed.

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