Clashes in Paris over Macron bid to ram pension reform without MPs’ vote

French president Emmanuel Macron is risking a no-confidence vote after announcing he would push through legislation to raise the retirement age to 64 from 62 without a full parliamentary vote.

The decision was certain to inflame an already tense confrontation over the measure as he faces protests by ‘gilet jaunes’ demonstrators out on the French streets.

Far-left lawmakers from the France Unbowed (France Insoumise) party booed and chanted the national hymn the Marseillaise as far-right National Rally MPs shouted “Resign! Resign!”

In #Paris, the protests have turned into riots: cars are on fire, police use tear gas and water cannons.

The protests began because of the increase in the retirement age (from 62 to 64 years). The bill was passed by the government and ignored the parliamentary vote.

Protesters… https://t.co/DouNNc3Kk5 pic.twitter.com/UgqyUl6R6D

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 16, 2023

Despite intense lobbying efforts with MPs and frantic meetings at the Elysée on Thursday Macron and his Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne faced the likelihood of a defeat in parliament and decided instead to invoke a controversial constitutional tool — article 49.3 — to bypass a vote.

Macron’s pensions reform aims to increase the legal age of retirement to 64 from 62 and extend contributions for a full pension in an effort to balance the accounts of France’s state pensions system. Millions of French people have said they see the changes as an assault on their way of life.

The decision to avoid a National Assembly vote, regarded by Macron’s political opponents as antidemocratic even though legal, came after two months of major demonstrations and intermittent strikes.

Invoking 49.3 to ram his pensions bill without a parliamentary vote – or as prime minister Borne said, “risk 175 hours of debate that come to nothing” – endangers the prospects of a closer alliance between Macron’s Renaissance party and Les Républicains, with the conservative party unable to muster its own MPs despite concessions on the bill.

Macron’s Renaissance (previously La France En Marche) party lost its absolute majority in the National Assembly in parliamentary elections last year, but the government was able to pass legislation in recent months with the support of the conservative party Les Républicains. But it was clear he could not depend on the French centre-right for the reforms he needed to pass.

After the announcement, opposition MPs vowed to continue the battle against the reform, either in parliament, by supporting a motion of no-confidence, or in the streets.

The leader of the far-right National Rally, Marine Le Pen, slammed the move as a “personal failure” for Macron. “It’s his reform, he’s the one who proposed it and defended it during his campaign,” she told reporters at the National Assembly.

Spontaneous protests erupted Thursday evening in several cities across France, including Paris, where thousands of protestors descended on the Place de la Concorde after the move, clashing with police and setting fire to scaffolding. Trade unions called for a day of protest on 23 March.

But for some, Macron’s decision smacks of the kind of contempt and aloofness of which he has sometimes been accused. This confrontation over his pension plan has revealed a more isolated president, with fewer allies.