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Protests Resume in France After Macron Pushes Through Pension Bill


Protesters in France blocked roads on Friday and labor unions announced more strikes following President Emmanuel Macron’s decision push an unpopular pension bill through Parliament without a voteled opposition parties to rush to file no-confidence motions against his cabinet.

Mr Macron’s decision, announced by his prime minister on Thursday in a raucous session in the National Assembly, the French House of Representatives, those who opposed the bill were angry, this will push the legal retirement age to 64, from 62. Overnight, violent protests broke out in several French cities.

Below provisions of the French Constitution, the pension bill will become law unless a motion of no confidence against the government succeeds in Congress. Opposition lawmakers there say they will submit one or more of those petitions Friday afternoon, with a vote expected in the coming days, most likely on Wednesday. Two.

There has been only one successful motion of no confidence in France since 1958, when the current Constitution was adopted. Petitions that political groups say they will submit on Friday are not seen as particularly likely to succeed.

But the decision to pass a controversial bill through Parliament has invigorated the months-long protest movement against a pension overhaul, which also increases the number of years workers have to pay into the system to get full pensions.

In Paris on Friday, a crowd of protesters from the CGT, or General Confederation of Labor, France’s second-largest labor union, briefly blocked the entrance to the périphérique, the motorway that surrounds the country’s capital. France, where many streets still have piles of garbage. garbage because the garbage collectors’ strike is going on.

“The fight continues,” CGT said in one declare congestion notification.

The CGT also announced that strikers would close an oil refinery in Normandy over the weekend, potentially disrupting fuel supplies to gas stations, and teachers unions said they would suspend strike next week during exam time – raising fears of longer, more disruptive strikes.

France’s main labor unions, which have held an unusually united front in their confrontation with the government, say they are more determined than ever and announced that they will hold the ninth day of the nationwide protests and strikes next week, on March 23.

Catherine Perret, a top CGT official, who read a joint statement on Thursday night, accused the government of “denying true democracy” and said unions would continue to “act equally calm and resolute” against pension changes.

Opposition lawmakers have until Friday afternoon to submit their no-confidence motions. The far-right National Rally Party has announced that it will submit a proposal, although it has also said that its lawmakers can also vote on a proposal submitted by others.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, co-founder of far-left organization France Unbowed, told radio France Inter on Friday that the party would support a no-confidence motion filed by a group of independent lawmakers — a petition likely to be supported by many rival groups — instead of a petition. their own recommendations.

“This bill has no parliamentary legitimacy,” said Mr. Mélenchon, who is no longer a France Unbowed lawmaker or official party leader but still has huge influence within the party.

But Mr. Macron’s sporadic opposition is unlikely to topple his cabinet, as the mainstream conservative Republicans, while divided over their support of the pension bill, are very reluctant to do so.

Mr. Macron’s government, which insisted until the last minute that it wanted to hold a vote on Thursday, is now trying to quell anger and insist it has no choice but to required to pass a bill. Mr. Macron sees this as the key to the future of France.

Olivier Dussopt, labor minister, told BFMTV news channel on Friday that vote tally ahead of Thursday’s session showed three to four votes missing because a number of conservative mainstream lawmakers – whom Mr Macron needs support – fell short of the tally. promissory note.

“But it is not a failure,” Mr. Dussopt said. “Because there is a bill, and this bill will be implemented if the motion of no confidence is denied.”

Commentators were not so optimistic. The front page of Le figaroa conservative newspaper, calling Mr Macron “weak and isolated”, while liberate, release, freeA left-wing daily, published a close-up photo of Mr Macron with the headline “His fault”.

“The lesson for the government and for Emmanuel Macron is clear,” said Le Monde, one of France’s leading newspapers, wrote in its editorial on Fridayadded that there were “no reliable allies” for him in a Congress “dominated by extremists”, making the situation “volatile, explosive and dangerous.”

But by forcing the bill to pass, Mr. Macron risks “promoting persistent bitterness, or even sparking violence,” the paper added.

Overnight violent protests across the country raised fears that opponents of the pension change could turn to more radical tactics.

In Paris on Thursday, about 10,000 protesters spontaneously gathered at the Place de la Concorde, across from the National Assembly, in a mostly peaceful demonstration.

But it happens much more violently as night falls and riot police dispersed the square, firing water cannons and tear gas at protesters who threw pebbles and scattered into surrounding residential areas, burning trash as they went. Other cities across France were also rocked by violent protests overnight, including Rennes, Nantes, Lyon and Marseille.

Gérald Darmanin, interior minister, told RTL radio on Friday, more than 300 people were arrested across the country, most of them in Paris. He also said he had asked the Paris police agency to summon garbage collectors to clean up the piles of rubbish piled up in the French capital.

“Protesting is legal, protesting is legal,” Mr. Darmanin said. “But not chaos.”

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