(Paris) The new motion of censure tabled against the French government by the left-wing opposition was unsurprisingly rejected on Monday by the National Assembly, the latest development in the battle for pensions which has shaken the country since January.
The coalition of leftist parties Nupes had tabled this motion, the 17e in one year, to protest against the “pressure” of the government which had the reform adopted, without a vote in Parliament, raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, despite massive demonstrations in the streets.
“What is happening today […]it is the possibility of putting an end to the discredit that the government throws on the National Assembly”, declared the head of the socialist deputies Valérie Rabault in front of the hemicycle, criticizing in a stormy atmosphere the “duplicity” of the government of Elisabeth Borne.
At the podium, the Prime Minister, appointed in May 2022 by Emmanuel Macron, defended the “transparency” and the “coherence” of her action while the presidential camp saw, in this new motion of censure, a “form of tragedy of repetition “.
These motions, “it serves to express our anger, our reprobation with regard to a government and a President of the Republic who used the worst of the Fifth Republic […] to impose a law which the French do not want”, defended the deputy Clémentine Autain, of France insubordinate (radical left).
After failing to prevent the adoption of the reform in mid-March, the opposition was white-hot since its bill repealing the retirement age at 64 was declared unconstitutional last week, even before having been examined in public session.
His motion tabled on Monday, however, was much less followed than that of March 20 when the government had saved his head to nine votes: it collected Monday only 239 votes out of the 289 necessary.
For several weeks, the presidential camp has hoped to turn the page on pensions, a very unpopular reform which has weighed on the popularity of the executive.
France is one of the European countries with the lowest retirement age, but the systems are very different. The executive justified its project by the need to respond to the financial deterioration of pension funds and the aging of the population.