Proposed changes to France’s pension system, which have provoked huge protests and strikes since the start of the year, were due to be voted on in parliament on Thursday, in a decisive moment for Emmanuel Macron. However, at the last moment he pulled the vote and used special constitutional powers to force the plans through.
What are Macron’s proposed pension changes?
The minimum general retirement age will rise from 62 to 64, some public sector workers will lose privileges and there will be an accelerated increase in the number of years of work required to qualify for a full pension. The changes were part of Macron’s manifesto for his re-election to a second term in office in 2022.
Hasn’t Macron tried to make changes to the pension system before?
Yes. In 2019, during his first term, he put forward a different plan to unify the complex French pension system. He argued that getting rid of the 42 special regimes for sectors ranging from rail and energy workers to lawyers was crucial to keep the system financially viable. At that time, he did not want to raise the retirement age.
Protests against those proposals lasted longer than any strike since the wildcat workers’ stoppages of 1968. Macron’s changes were eventually shelved at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Who has been protesting on the streets in recent weeks?
In a rare show of unity, all trade unions – including the moderate centre – have led protests since the start of this year, organising some of the biggest demonstrations in decades, which peaked last Tuesday when an estimated 1.28 million people took to the streets.
Transport workers, energy workers, dockers, teachers and public sector workers, including museum staff, have held strikes. A rubbish-collection strike is continuing and has led to more than 7,000 tonnes of waste building up across half of Paris. Trade unions say the overhaul will penalise low-income people in manual jobs who tend to start their careers early, forcing them to work longer than graduates, who are less affected by the changes. Opinion polls show two-thirds of French people oppose the pension changes and support the protest movement.
Why are pensions such a political flashpoint in France?
The pension system is seen as the cornerstone of the country’s cherished model of social protection.
Unlike the market-led system of the UK, France has a pension system prized for what politicians call “solidarity between the generations” – whereby the working population pay mandatory payroll charges to fund those in retirement. All French workers get a state pension.
France has the lowest qualifying age for a state pension among the main European economies and spends a significant amount supporting the system. But the active working population pay high payroll charges and see fair pensions as the bedrock of how society should work.
Every French president for the past 40 years has in some way made changes to the retirement laws, usually prompting anger in the polls and demonstrations on the streets.
Why did Macron choose to use special powers to force through the changes, instead of a parliamentary vote?
The lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, was poised to vote on Thursday afternoon. But Macron took a surprise, last-minute decision to instead use special constitutional powers to force the plans through without a vote, because he was not certain of the support of enough lawmakers.
Special powers contained in article 49.3 of the constitution allowed government to bypass members of parliament.
The prime minister Élisabeth Borne announced the decision in parliament amid chaotic scenes in which radical left lawmakers sang the Marseillaise at the top of their voices in attempt to stop her from speaking.
The use of special powers illustrates Macron’s difficult position in parliament. He was left severely undermined in the National Assembly after his centrist grouping failed to win an absolute majority in parliamentary elections last June amid major gains for the far right and radical left.
Without a majority, the government needed to rely on lawmakers from the rightwing party, Les Républicains, to back the pensions changes. But despite weeks of negotiations, the numbers did not add up.
What happens next?
Politicians on the left have called on trade unions to continue strikes and street protests.
Opposition politicians will put forward a vote of no confidence in the government within the next 24 hours, which will lead to a vote, perhaps as early as Monday. But whether or not this passes depends on how opposition parties, who are radically against one another, might group together. The radical left does not want to join with Marine Le Pen’s far right.
Previous votes of no confidence in this government have not passed because they did not garner the absolute majority of 287. Much rests on whether the rightwing party, Les Républicains, would vote for a motion of no confidence. It has not previously done so. The party’s leader, Eric Ciotti, said on Thursday that his party would not put its name to a no confidence vote.
If a vote of no confidence did pass, Macron could stand down the cabinet and stage a reshuffle to form a new government. He also has the power to decide to dissolve parliament and call a snap general election, although that is not his most likely choice.
