Has Macron’s government left next week?

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Paris is in turmoil. Due to the pension reform, which President Emmanuel Macron (45) pushed through without a vote in parliament, riots broke out in the French capital on Thursday evening. Police arrested 217 people and placed MPs under protection.

Demonstrations also took place in other cities such as Marseille, Dijon, Nantes, Rennes, Rouen, Grenoble, Toulouse and Nice. The unions called for a nationwide day of strikes and protests this Thursday.

Because he was afraid of not achieving the necessary majority in parliament, Macron went all out. On Thursday afternoon, he decided together with the government at short notice and with reference to a special article in the constitution to raise the retirement age from the current 62 to 64 years.

Monday will be Macron’s fateful day

This step could now cost him dearly. The French National Assembly will vote on a motion of no confidence next Monday. If this is rejected, the new pension reform law will be automatically passed.

If passed, the new law will not come into force and the government under Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne (61) will be overthrown in accordance with the constitution – for the second time in the Fifth Republic after 1962. President Macron will then have two options: Appoint a new Prime Minister with a mandate to form a new government, or to dissolve parliament and call new elections.

Gilbert Casasus, 67, emeritus professor of European studies, told Blick: “The results of the elections are currently completely open.”

“Reform is illegal”

“What Macron did is a parliamentary ploy,” Casasus continued. This means that his reform is not only unpopular, but also illegal. “Because of this wrong decision by Macron and his government, France is in ruins and a very serious political crisis is imminent.”

The debate on pension reform has shown that the president no longer has a parliamentary majority. In new elections, his decision could lead to a victory for the extremes – such as Marine Le Pen (54) on the far right – and to a country that remains ungovernable, Casasus argues.

Huge resistance

The new reform is perceived by many as unfair, as low-paid, long-term and older workers in particular feel disadvantaged. This also applies to women who often worked irregular hours.

Pension reform is one of Macron’s main campaign promises. He wanted to tackle that in his first term of office, but the yellow vest strikes and Corona disrupted the plan. He knew he would be met with huge resistance: Jacques Chirac’s (1932-2019) failed attempt to raise the retirement age in 1995 sparked a massive wave of nationwide strikes. There was also massive resistance when Nicolas Sarkozy (68) successfully raised the retirement age from 60 to 62 in 2010.

Lazy French?

Macron announced the pension reform to deal with the looming government deficit. In other European countries people are looking with satisfaction at the increase in the retirement age – for example in Germany, where people will soon have to work until the age of 67. Because the French are accused of having their low retirement age financed by other EU countries.

Casasus does not accept this. Describing the French as “lazy”, as it is always said, is an “unacceptable humiliation” for him. He points to the high labor productivity and says: “France is one of the main donor countries in the EU. The French work and pay more than some other Europeans.”

Moreover, compared to other countries, France has a much more favorable population structure. The generally satisfactory birth rate means that the country has less to contend with an aging population in the medium term.

Attack on the «social soul»

“The blame lies with Macron,” Casasus says of the protests. Before his re-election in April 2022, he proposed a controversial pension reform, which he is now throwing overboard due to the new parliamentary situation. At the time, he spoke in favor of a so-called points system, which some social partners did not reject. Casasus: “A year later he managed to unite all trade unions against each other and thus contribute to a front of all workers’ organizations.”

Two thirds of the French see the pension reform as an attack on the ‘social soul’, says Casasus. And the French-Swiss dual nationality sums it up: “The French work to live and don’t live to work.”

Source: Blick