On Thursday, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne launched a special procedure to pass an unpopular pension reform bill in the National Assembly without a vote amid shouts and chanting of left-wing MPs against the reform.
The move, using the so-called Article 49:3 of the constitution, will ensure the passage of the bill raising the two-year retirement age to 64, but shows that President Emmanuel Macron and his government have failed to get the majority. enough in Parliament.
Borne was booed upon his arrival at the National Assembly to announce the special procedure. The session was suspended for two minutes after leftist lawmakers singing the national anthem prevented Borne from speaking.
Some held up signs reading “No to 64”.
When the session resumed, Borne took the floor, but his speech was largely drowned out by boos and shouts from opposition MPs and chants of “resign”, in a rare chaotic scene in the French parliament.
The appeal risks further angering unions, protesters and left-wing opposition parties who say the pension reform is unjust and unnecessary.
“This government is not worthy of our Fifth Republic, of French democracy. Parliament has been ridiculed, humiliated,” said Fabien Roussel, head of the French Communist Party.
Socialist Party chief Olivier Faure told Reuters on Thursday that such a move could unleash “uncontrollable anger” after weeks of ongoing strikes and protests.
Macron and his government say raising the retirement age is necessary to get the pension system out of the red by the end of the decade.
His failure to pass pension reform by a majority in parliament is a major blow to Macron’s ability to win concessions in parliament and push through more reforms.
Source: Terra
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