‘Reform is needed’: Macron bypasses parliament to raise retirement age sparking anger

London: French President Emmanuel Macron has used controversial special constitutional powers to bypass parliament and force a rise in the pension age, sparking mass protests and risking a national shutdown amid chaotic scenes in Paris.

Macron, facing defeat on a policy he has invested much of his shrinking authority on, took a last-minute decision to avoid a knife-edge vote in the National Assembly and instead push through his unpopular plan to increase the pension age from 62 to 64.

Firefighters put out a fire near the Place de la Concorde, after angry anti-reform demonstrations in Paris.Credit: AP

Just moments before MPs in the lower house were to vote, Macron was holding a series of frantic meetings with senior political figures, and suddenly chose to use the special power granted to the prime minister instead of risking a vote. According to reports, Macron had told cabinet ministers that the financial risks were “too great” if the law had been rejected by parliament.

Radical-left MPs – who bitterly oppose the change alongside members of the far right – sang La Marseillaise at the top of their voices to drown out Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, from speaking.

The session was briefly suspended and when she began to speak she was interrupted with cries of “Resign, Resign!”

“We cannot take the risk to see so many hours of parliamentary work go to waste, or take a bet on the future of our retirement system,” Borne said. “This reform is needed.”

A protester holds a placard during a gathering at Concorde square near the National Assembly in Paris.Credit: AP

She triggered the 49.3 constitutional clause that allowed her to pass the pensions bill without a vote. The only way to prevent the legislation is for opposition parties to overthrow the government in a no-confidence motion in the coming days.

Several opposition parties, including Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, said they would put forward such motions. If it is successful then the government will fall and the law will not pass.

French President Emmanuel Macron has shunned parliament and opted to push through a highly unpopular bill that would raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 by triggering a special constitutional power.Credit: AP

Le Pen, who lost the presidential election to Macron last year, said it was a fully blown political crisis.

“This is a total failure for the government and Emmanuel Macron personally, and the government must be sanctioned. It has lost the confidence of this assembly and the population,” she said.

Prominent hard-left opposition politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon was among protesters gathering at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, where bon fires were lit.

He said Macron had gone “over the heads of the will of the people” with the decision to legalise it by decree, calling it a “spectacular failure”.

As night fell, police pushed back demonstrators who moved through nearby streets in the chic neighbourhood setting fires, the AP reported. At least 120 were detained, police said.

Protesters gather at the Place de la Concorde near the National Assembly in Paris.Credit: AP

Similar scenes took place around the country, from Rennes and Nantes in the east, to Lyon, and the southern port city of Marseille, where shop windows and bank fronts were smashed, according to French media and the AP. Radical leftist groups were blamed for at least some of the destruction.

The leader of the conservative Les Républicains (LR) party, Eric Ciotti, said his party’s MPs would not vote to overthrow the government. Macron had hoped on LR’s backing to vote for the bill, but a number of MPs had defied the party’s leadership to oppose it.

French President Emmanuel Macron.Credit: AP

Under Macron’s pension changes, the minimum general retirement age will increase from 62 to 64, some public sector workers will lose privileges and there will be an accelerated increase in the number of years of work required to qualify for a full pension.

France spends 14 per cent of its gross domestic product, the measure of the quantity of goods and services produced, on public pensions, nearly double the OECD average. Without changes in the retirement age, it’s estimated that would increase to 15.5 per cent by 2050. His proposal is for the change to take effect by 2030.

An ongoing garbage workers’ strike has left overflowing bins and a growing piles of rubbish bags on the streets of Paris.Credit: Bloomberg

Several published polls show that two-thirds of the French oppose the changes, with transport workers, energy workers, dockers, teachers and public sector workers having held several nationwide strikes in recent weeks.

A continuing rubbish-collection strike has led to more than 7000 tonnes of waste building up across half of Paris. Rubbish collectors currently work until they are 57, because of difficult employment conditions. Under the reforms, they would have to continue until 59.

The chaos could potentially derail Macron’s second-term agenda, which has been complicated by his party losing legislative elections in June.

His centrist alliance has 250 MPs and needs to win over opposition politicians to reach 289 votes, or convince some to abstain to secure a majority. The government has now resorted to using special powers 11 times during this parliamentary session, making it the second-most frequent user of the tactic since 1958 when the Fifth Republic began.

The failure to pass the pensions bill raises questions over his ability to win support from other parties for further reforms he has promised on everything from immigration to fighting climate change.

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