New protests took place in Paris on Friday evening against the pension reform, which the government adopted without the National Assembly. There were new clashes between the protesters and the anti-riot units of the police.
Protesters gathered in the square Place de la Concorde near the building of the National Assembly and called for the resignation of the president Emmanuel Macron. The police tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas. Similar protests took place already on Thursday.
The central point of the pension reform is the raising of the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. The government claims that without this change the pension system will collapse.
Trade unions and the majority of residents do not agree with the government’s assessment. France has one of the lowest retirement ages among the member states of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
More than 80 percent of the population is dissatisfied with the government’s decision to pass the reform by bypassing parliament, which is otherwise enabled by a special constitutional instrument, while 65 percent want the strikes and protests to continue, according to a public opinion survey published by RTL radio.
Accept the reform without a vote in parliament “is a denial of democracy, perfect denying everything that has been happening on the streets for several weeks now,” said the 52-year-old psychologist Nathalie Alquier. “This is unbearable,” she added.
The major unions are announcing the continuation of the mobilization of their members to achieve the rejection of the reform. New protests have been announced this weekend, and a new strike has been announced for Thursday.
So far, the protests and strikes have mostly been relatively peaceful, but the events of Thursday and Friday were reminiscent of the yellow vest protests of late 2018, triggered by rising fuel prices. At the time, President Macron had to partially abandon the announced fuel tax.
The government is expected to pass a no-confidence vote
Due to the adoption of the reform by the parliament, the members of the parliamentary group are independent members of parliament Liot filed an inter-party motion of no confidence in the government, which are Mrs also signed by the members of the left alliance Nope.
The second motion of no confidence was submitted by members of the far-right National Assembly Marine Le Pen. This proposal is expected to receive less support, but the party has already announced that it will also support the mentioned proposal of independent deputies.
Macron lost his absolute majority in the lower house of parliament in last year’s election, but there is little chance of the vote succeeding unless there is a surprising alliance between MPs from all sides, from the far left to the far right. In the conservative Republican Party, such an alliance has already been ruled out. No-confidence votes are expected to take place at the end of the week or on Monday.
Source: Rtvslo
