Emmanuel Macron’s government narrowly survived a no-confidence motion in the French National Assembly on Monday, after bypassing the lower house to push through a deeply unpopular change to the pension system.
The outcome will be a relief to Macron: a successful no-confidence vote would have sunk his government and killed the legislation, which is set to raise the retirement age by two years to 64.
But the vote was much closer than expected – the majority was only nine – and unions and protesters have vowed to carry on with strikes and demonstrations against the pension reform.
Observers say Macron’s failure to find enough support in parliament to put his pension proposals to a vote has already undermined his reformist agenda and weakened his leadership.
As soon as the narrow failure of the vote was announced, lawmakers from the hard left La France Insoumise shouted “Resign!” at premier Elisabeth Borne and brandished signs saying: “We’ll meet in the streets.”
Violent unrest has erupted across the country in recent days and trade unions have promised to intensify their strike action, leaving Macron to face the most dangerous challenge to his authority since the ‘Gilets Jaunes’ uprising over four years ago.
A ninth nationwide day of strikes and protests is scheduled on Thursday.
“Only nine votes are missing to bring both the government down and its reform down, the hard-left MP Mathilde Panot said. “The government is already dead in the eyes of the French, it doesn’t have any legitimacy any more.”
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said her group would file a request for the Constitutional Council to examine the bill on Tuesday and possibly censure it.
The no-confidence motions were filed by MPs furious that President Emmanuel Macron ordered the use of special constitutional powers to force through an unpopular bill raising the retirement age without giving them a vote.
The Senate, dominated by conservatives who back the retirement plan, approved the legislation last week.
Centrist MP Charles de Courson, who with his group introduced the no-confidence motion supported by the left, deplored the government’s decision to use a special constitutional power to skirt a vote on the pension bill last week.
“How can we accept such contempt for parliament? How can we accept such conditions to examine a text which will have lasting effects on the lives of millions of our fellow citizens?”
Rubbish in Paris is piling ever higher and reeking of rotting food on the 15th day of a strike by collectors. The three main incinerators serving the French capital have been mostly blocked, as has a rubbish sorting centre northwest of Paris.
On Monday, hundreds of mainly young protesters gathered by Les Invalides, the final resting place of Napoleon, to demonstrate against pension reform.
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
