France bypasses parliament to force through pension reform

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday has decided to force through his controversial pension reform without calling a vote in parliament, using a constitutional power enabling the government to bypass lawmakers.

The decision was made just a few minutes before the vote was scheduled, because the government had no guarantee that the bill would command a majority at the National Assembly, France’s lower house of parliament.

“We cannot bet on the future of our pensions,” French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told parliament as she invoked article 49.3 of the French constitution, to jeers from the left-wing opposition, who also loudly sang the French national anthem the Marseillaise in protest.

Angry reactions from far right and left

“It’s a total failure for the government,” far-right leader Marine Le Pen told reporters, adding that Borne should resign. “From the beginning the government fooled itself into thinking it had a majority,” she said.

“When a president has no majority in the country, no majority in the National Assembly, he must withdraw his bill,” said Socialist Party chief Olivier Faure.

Far-left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon said that the pension reform text had no parliamentary legitimacy. The bill was passed “only by the Senate, neither by the mass of French people, nor by the National Assembly, nor by the unions, nor by the workers’ associations: it is a text which has no legitimacy,” he said.

“This government is not worthy of our Fifth Republic, of French democracy,” Fabien Roussel, head of the French Communist Party said.

Senate approval, National Assembly was more likely to reject

Article 49.3 of the constitution allows the French government to pass a draft law by decree, effectively bypassing lawmakers. The risky move has the potential to trigger a quick no-confidence motion in Macron’s government.

Earlier Thursday, the Senate adopted the bill in a 193-114 vote, a tally that was largely expected since the conservative majority of the upper house of parliament favors raising the retirement age.

Macron’s alliance lost its parliamentary majority last year, forcing the government to count on conservative lawmakers to pass the bill. Leftists and far-right lawmakers are strongly opposed and conservatives are divided, which made the outcome unpredictable.

Macron considered that the financial and economic risks of inaction on pension reform were too great and that special constitutional powers were needed to push it through, according to French media reports on his briefing to his Cabinet before the decision. 

Mass protests in France over planned pension reforms

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Macron’s second attempt to fix French pensions

The pension reform bill, seeking among other things to raise the standard retirement age from 62 to 64, is a flagship policy for President Macron. 

He tried and failed to implement similar reforms in his first term, eventually abandoning the plan altogether amid the COVID pandemic. 

Macron’s government argues the changes are necessary to keep one of western Europe’s most generous pension systems solvent. 

The plans have prompted mass strikes and demonstrations.

dh/msh (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/france-bypasses-parliament-to-force-through-pension-reform/a-65009369?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf