The union fighting against pension reform in France approved this Thursday, convening “meetings” for this weekend and a ninth day of strikes and demonstrations for March 23.
The decision was made public after the French government resorted to Article 49.3 of the French Constitution, which states that a law can be passed without needing to be approved by the National Assembly. (lower house of parliament), to pass the pension reform bill.
By denouncing a passage of law “by force”, the union referred to it as “seriously measuring the responsibility of the executive in the social and political crisis resulting from this decision, a true denial of democracy”, emphasized in a statement.
The far right, the right and the entire left wing of France’s National Assembly today called for the government to resign following the forced adoption of pension reform, promising to table three motions of censure in the next 24 hours.
Mathematically, it is very difficult to pass any of these motions, but for the opposition, the government has lost credibility.
There is now doubt about the future of the prime minister, whose main mission was to negotiate this reform and secure a majority. Even if the censure motions fail to pass, Elisabeth Borne could leave the government, paving the way for a new executive leader.
Borne today defended the decision to bypass the National Assembly’s vote on the law to reform the pension system, arguing that the reform is necessary.
“You cannot risk playing with the future of pensions, this reform is necessary,” said the prime minister, stating that it was “out of responsibility” that the government resorted to Article 49.3 of the French constitution.
Police intervened late afternoon in Paris, not far from Parliament, on the Place de la Concorde (Place de la Concorde, in French), where thousands of demonstrators gathered to protest pension reform, the journalists from the AFP.
Des milliers de personnes sur la Place de la #Agree current affairs #ReformDesRetraites #NonALaReformeDesRetraites @LucAuffret pour @LibreQg pic.twitter.com/X0mEVcAssR
– Free Media Headquarters (@LibreQg) March 16, 2023
According to the Paris police, the officers took action, namely with water cannons, after an attempt to destroy the place of the Obelisk, in the center of the square.
These police interventions caused large movements of people in the square.
Police intervention and the use of tear gas drove protesters away from the bridge leading to the National Assembly and pushed them back to the other side of the square.
Police have arrested at least eight people, the municipality said.
A large part of the protesters had already left the site by 7:30 pm (6:30 pm in Lisbon) and dispersed through the surrounding streets, AFP said.
One of the most controversial articles of this new law is the increase of the retirement age to 64 or 43 years of reductions, but also the end of the existing special regimes for employees in transport, energy or even the Bank of France, as well as the adoption of a special contract to promote the employment of people over 60 years old.
Source: DN
