France’s Macron faces no-confidence vote that could topple government

French opposition lawmakers have filed a no-confidence motion against Emmanuel Macron’s government after he pushed pension reform through parliament without a vote in a move they said was “dangerous for our democracy”.

“The vote on this motion will allow us to get out of a deep political crisis,” said Bertrand Pancher, head of the Liberties, Independences, Overseas and Territories group in the National Assembly. of the broad left NUPES coalition.

Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally party also said it would support a vote of no confidence and would file its vote as well.

The MPs wrote, “There is neither social legitimacy, nor popular legitimacy, nor democratic legitimacy in this pension reform project.”

“It would set a dangerous precedent that would allow governments to push sweeping social reforms through the backdoor, processes that are dangerous for our democracy.”

The no-confidence motion will be debated this Sunday and may be voted on on Monday. If it is passed, the reforms will fall with the prime minister and the government.

Macron could also dissolve parliament and call a snap election, but this is unlikely given his unpopularity, with his renaissance group at risk of losing even more lawmakers.

Although Macron lost his absolute majority in the lower house of parliament in elections last year, unless a surprise coalition of lawmakers from all parties is formed, the no-confidence vote is unlikely to succeed, far-fetched. From far to far.

Leaders of the conservative Les Republicans (LR) party – whose bloc of 61 seats makes them kingmakers – have ruled out such a coalition. Individual LR MPs said they would break ranks, but a no-confidence bill would require the votes of all other opposition MPs and half of the LR, which is a tall order.

After pledging to put his unpopular pensions reform – which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 – to a parliamentary vote, Macron mounted an offensive by running the law through a “nuclear” article in French without a vote Did. The constitution is called 49.3.

Elisabeth Borne, the prime minister, was strongly booed by the opposition, who called on her to resign, saying the move was a denial of parliamentary democracy.

After a night of sporadic violence and more than 300 arrests across the country, unions and analysts warned that France could be heading towards the kinds of chaotic scenes of violent quasi-insurgency that have seen the country become the so-called Gilletes Johns (yellow vests). was destroyed during Rebellion of 2018.

More than eight out of every 10 people are unhappy with the government’s decision to leave the vote in parliament, and 65 percent want the strike and protests to continue, a Toluna Harris Interactive poll for RTL radio showed.

In an ominous sign of growing anger, protesters in central Dijon, Burgundy, burned effigies of the centrist French president on Thursday night, along with Bourne, Olivier Veran, a government spokesman, and Olivier Dussopt, a labor minister.

Gerald Darmanin, the Interior Minister, received a request to provide security for MPs who supported pension reform due to threats.

At a rail strike protest in Paris’ Gare de Lyon today, Daniel Terlinc of the prestigious liberal UNSA-Ferrovière union said Macron’s refusal to vote for reform concluded he only made concessions in the face of radical action.

“Through its obstinacy, the government is exposing itself to an explosion in violence. We warned them. We regret it, but only once it went ahead – and gave €13 billion ($22 billion) – then yellow-vest violence was dealt with,” he said.

Various demonstrations were planned over the weekend and a new day of mass strike rallies was set for next Thursday. Trade unions urged workers to step up and they briefly blocked the Paris Ring Road.

‘Anarchy and violence’

“Something fundamental happened, and that is that, immediately, there was a spontaneous mobilization throughout the country,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left party France Unbowed. “It goes without saying that I encourage them, I think that’s where it’s happening.”

Even if the government survives a vote of no confidence, political analysts said it would remain a “pyramid victory” for Macron.

“The legacy will be a very damaged relationship between the French public and the president,” warned Stéphane Jumsteeg, head of polling in France for the Ipsos public opinion group.

The jurist and professor of constitutional law, Dominique Rousseau, said that “parliamentary democracy has been clearly refuted” and in his opinion the government “can no longer govern because it no longer commands a majority on other bills”.

“I think that if we want to avoid anarchy and violence, we will either have to hold a referendum or dissolve parliament.”

Editorialists were scathing of Macron’s strategy, saying he faced the prospect of being a lame duck for the rest of his presidency.

Maurice Bontik charente libre wrote: “One question dominates all after this historic day, namely that 11 months after it began, has Emmanuel Macron’s (second) five-year term already ended?”

Beyond the man, this political crisis will spur calls for France to reform its “presidential rule” to break free from the constant focus of an all-powerful head-of-state in favor of a stronger parliamentary democracy.