Emmanuel Macron
chose this Thursday to adopt the pension reform in France with a special power
without the vote of deputies
, announced sources close to the Executive, alluding to the presidential ability to use a constitutional resource to approve the controversial norm.
The decision was made minutes before the scheduled vote, because the government had not secured approval in the National Assembly, the lower house of the French Parliament.
The struggle in
France
around a bill that would raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 years reached its climax this Thursday, either with a parliamentary vote in the National Assembly or with the special presidential initiative, protected by the Constitution,
to enforce their approval.
Apparently it is this option that prevailed.
It was known that if the ruling party did not achieve a majority to adopt the text,
it could resort to article 49.3 of the French Constitution
, which allows it to be adopted without a vote.
But the recourse to this article will be
a failure for Macron.
not having obtained parliamentary passage.
The risks of a "decree"
A recourse to 49.3 could in turn cause the protest movement to harden in the streets.
If Macron resorts to this mechanism, he
is also exposed to a motion of no confidence,
according to some opposition deputies, another thing is that it can prosper.
The Senate already approved the norm on Thursday morning by 193 votes in favor and 114 against, an expected result because the conservative majority in the upper house
supports raising the retirement age
.
The text passed this Thursday to the lower house, the National Assembly, where the perspective
was more uncertain.
Macron had a meeting in the morning with some leaders of his centrist alliance to address the complex political situation in the National Assembly.
He was expected to join them again at noon.
Union leaders speak to the media, in Paris.
Photo: AFP
Macron's alliance
lost its majority
in legislative elections last year, so the government needed conservative votes to pass the measure.
Lawmakers on
the left and far right were
strongly opposed to the plan and the conservatives were divided, making the outcome unpredictable.
The French leader wants to raise the retirement age so that workers
contribute more money to the pension system
, which according to the government is on track to enter a deficit.
If he does not get a parliamentary majority vote,
he has constitutional authority
to impose the unpopular changes unilaterally.
Macron has defended the pension changes as
crucial
to his vision of a
more competitive
French economy .
Unions maintained their combative stance on Wednesday and called on lawmakers to vote against it, decrying the government's legal shortcuts to push through the law as
a "denial of democracy."
Nearly 500,000 people protested across the country on Wednesday.
Students were scheduled to march to the lower house of parliament on Thursday, as garbage collectors
continued a strike
that has piled up rubbish in the French capital.
A mountain of garbage in the streets of Paris, with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
Photo: Christophe Archambault / AFP
Macron "wants" the reform to be approved in the National Assembly, his office said after a strategy session on Wednesday night with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and ministers in charge of the proposal at the Elysee presidential palace.
But no firm decision was made, and the government was scheduled to continue talks on Thursday morning.
Employment Minister Olivier Dussopt said after the Senate vote that the government
still had no guarantee
that the text approved by a reconciliation committee on Wednesday could win a majority of votes in the lower house.
“We are determined to
build that majority
,” he said.
"That is our job, our commitment for the next few hours."
Nearly 500,000 people protested across the country on Wednesday.
Photo: Reuters
Although approval in the National Assembly
would give the plan more legitimacy
, Macron could avoid the risk of rejection and use his special constitutional power to pass a law without a parliamentary vote.
Economic challenges have sparked widespread discontent in Western Europe.
In Britain, young medical teachers and public transport workers
went on strike on Wednesday
to demand pay rises to keep
pace with rising prices.
And the leftist Spanish government reached an agreement with the unions to announce
a “historic” agreement
to save the pension system by raising the social security contributions of those who earn the most.
Associated Press
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