Macron approves the pension reform by decree without enough votes in the Assembly

France’s government has resorted to decree, a constitutional instrument that avoids putting pension reform to a vote in the French National Assembly, after confirming it does not have a sufficient majority to implement one of President Emmanuel Macron’s main projects.

Macron, who during the day maintained contacts with various political actors, urgently met with the Council of Ministers in order for it to approve the use of Article 49.3. of the Constitution, on the basis of which the project will continue regardless of your actual level of support.

Already before the Assembly, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne confirmed the reference to the mentioned article, in the tense beginning of the plenary session full of reproaches, while highlighting the transparencies. “If everyone had voted conscientiously and in accordance with their previous positions, we would not be here this afternoon,” he criticized.

49.3 opens the door for the opposition to put on the table motions of no confidence against the Government, something that Borne already took for granted, without “any doubt”. In fact, this has already happened on several occasions during this convocation, with proposals where the left-wing La Francia Insumisa (LFI) and the far-right Agrupación Nacional even added votes. Both blocs have confirmed that they will present their proposals again, although the opposition would need new allies to topple the executive.

Far right Marine Le Pen has announced that she will “obviously” activate the vote against the Governmentsince he considers that he is acting against the views of the majority of the parties that make up the parliament and, therefore, against the interests of the “majority of the French”.

social mobilization

Before voting in the National Assembly, senate confirmed this Thursday morning the reform promoted by Macron, with 193 votes for and 114 against. In his evening speech, Borne tried to show that it is no longer a project of the executive power but of the parliament as a whole.

On Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of France’s main cities again – for the eighth time – to question the reform, which, among other issues, raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 and extend the contribution period required to obtain the maximum pension.