The French government on Monday passed a new motion of censure, presented by left-wing parliamentary groups after the rejection of the presidency of the National Assembly to debate a bill to repeal the revision of the pension law.
The motion obtained 239 votes in favour, of the 289 it needed to reach an absolute majority in the lower house of the French parliament and prosper, announced, at the end of the vote, the president of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet.
This motion – the 17th against the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, in 11 months – was presented by the parliamentary groups of the left-wing coalition Nupes (França Insubmissa and the Socialist, Communist and Ecologist parties), after last week, invoked a constitutional reform article, Braun-Pivet did not allow the aforementioned proposal to repeal the controversial new pension law to be debated.
This law raised the minimum retirement age without financial penalties in France from 62 to 64 years.
Socialist deputy Valérie Rabault introduced the motion accusing Borne of having “discredited the National Assembly” by repeatedly approving measures or impeding parliamentary debates by resorting to the constitution.
“It is no secret that the government pressured the president of the National Assembly so that the vote would not take place,” said the socialist.
In response, Borne criticized “the inconsistencies, the contradictions and the demagogy” of the left groups and assured: “There is no other alternative than to review the pension law.”
“The Constitution is a block. We have to accept everything, some of its instruments cannot be denounced while its articles are applied,” added the prime minister, also opposing the “political courage” of the executive to the “decibels” of the left.
The previous motion of censure to which the French government was subject occurred on March 20 and was presented after the approval without a vote of the revision of the pension law in the National Assembly.
That motion was the closest to overthrowing the government, with only nine votes to go.
The far-right of Marine Le Pen’s National Union (RN) backed Monday’s motion from the left. The deputy Julie Lechanteux (RN) asked the Executive: “Why are you so afraid of debates? Why are you so afraid of voting?”
The center-right regionalist group LIOT also supported the motion of no confidence, whose president, Bertrand Pancher, condemned “the obstruction of parliament” by the government, which uses “a system of concentration of power and believes it can govern without parliament.”
However, the Executive, whose parliamentary bloc made up of several parties does not have an absolute majority, had the support of the majority of deputies from the conservative Os Republicanos party.
The Prime Minister withstood her first motion of no confidence 11 months ago, on July 11, 2022, shortly after taking office, after refusing to submit to a confidence vote from the National Assembly.
Source: TSF
