Emmanuel Macron advances his pension reform with a trick - he should soon receive the receipt for it: in the local elections in mid-March.
- Pension reform in France: Emmanuel Macron prevails
- Struggle continues
- Macron turns out to be a less sovereign reformer
Paris - The outcome was clear at the end: Socialists, communists and "indomitable" with their motion of no confidence only got 91 votes in the 577-strong National Assembly. The conservative Republicans pooled 148 votes for their own motion against the government. The split opposition had no chance against the absolute majority of the Macron party “La République en marche” (LRM).
According to French constitutional law, the two votes of confidence mean that the government brought the highly controversial pension reform linked to it at first reading through the First Chamber of Parliament. The second chamber, the conservatively dominated Senate, can no longer overturn the decision on its own. A highly welcome success for Emmanuel Macron : Despite months of protests, he kept his camp together and prevailed.
Pension reform in France: Macron pays high political price
A success, however, with two limitations - and each one of them significant in the first place: First, the placement that has now taken place only affects the core of the reform with the abolition of special funds for civil servants, railway workers and other industries, and the introduction of a points system for all employees. The question of financing remains completely unresolved. It has to be regulated in another law, and Macron, on the other hand, can no longer apply the constitutional trick "Article 49.3" that has just been practiced in Parliament. Leftists and right-wingers want to continue their “peaceful guerrillas” - a word by socialist Valérie Rabault - with thousands of additional proposals. To prevent the final vote on pension reform at least before the summer break.
Second, Macron pays a high political price for the "institutional crowbar," as the constitutional article is often called. By bypassing a vote on the reform itself, he is not making it more popular. The opposition also accuses Macron of exploiting the Corona crisis to sneak his project out into the open. The right spoke of a "fiasco" on Wednesday, the left of a "democratic disaster".
Pension reform in France: Conservatives as much as the left
The president could have to pay a first installment of the price for the "crowbar" in ten days. Then there will be local elections in France. His young party is at best flat-rooted in the country's 36,000 parishes. Even in the big cities, where Macron could count on the urban French in the 2017 presidential election, LRM has few election locomotives or experienced candidates; this was almost emblematic in Paris, where Macron candidate Benjamin Griveaux stumbled across a sex affair *.
Former Paris mayor candidate #Griveaux files charges against action artist Pawlenski. The affair also puts #Macron in trouble. https://t.co/SxAbPbb6re
- FrankfurterRundschau (@fr) February 17, 2020The president is counting on his persistent behavior - in terms of form, not of substance - in the conflict over pensions for bourgeois voters. Many conservatives are as opposed to the reform as the left, because they fear losses in the calculation of the points system. Macron did get the most important vote on his reform; but until today he is unable to state the financial consequences for the cumbersome pension system, he proves to be a less sovereign reformer who has also turned many French against him.
Pension reform in France: Macron is increasingly isolated politically
His stale victory at first reading is therefore a mere intermediate step. The extremely tough measuring of strength continues. And an early conclusion is inevitable: After the yellow vest crisis, Macron will have spent at least half of his five-year term in office from 2017 to 2022 in serious social conflicts.
His Spindoctors claim that it is inevitable if you want to reform France from scratch, and that is only to honor the brave president. Macron is increasingly isolated politically, however, even hated in many places. And everywhere, but especially in France, a head of state does not rule forever against the majority will of his own people.
By Stefan Brändle
* fr.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network