The opposition in France presented this Friday two motions of no confidence against the government, in response to the controversial adoption by decree of the reform of the pensions of the liberal president Emanuel Macron.
The group of independent deputies LIOT and the far-right of Marine Le Pen announced the presentation of motions of censure, which are difficult to prosper due to political balances.
“Voting on this motion will allow us to emerge unscathed from a deep political crisis”said the chairman of the LIOT parliamentary group, Bertrand Pancher, announcing his initiative.
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Macron decided on Thursday approve his pension reform without submitting it to the deputies, fearing losing the vote in the National Assembly (lower house) where it lacks an absolute majority.
This legal mechanism, registered in article 49.3 of the Constitution, allows this adoption by force, which could only be reversed if the deputies approve a motion of censure.
The debate in the lower house is expected at the beginning of next week. If either were adopted, the government led by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne would fall, but not Macron, who even threatened to dissolve the Assembly elected in June in case of a setback for its reform.
The motion presented by LIOT and signed by deputies from the left-wing Nupes front could get more support than that of the extreme right, politically isolated. Le Pen’s party will vote for both.
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But they would still be missing about thirty votes to reach 287 deputies necessary for the motion of no confidence to go ahead, something complicated given the position of the Los Republicanos group (right).
The head of this opposition party, Éric Ciotti, announced that they will not vote on a motion of no confidence against a government with whom they negotiated the reform. However, the party is divided.
The deputies in favor of the motion of censure thus seek to put pressure on the “twenty” members of LR who refused to approve the reform, pushing the government to adopt it with 49.3.
According to the polls, two out of three French people are opposed to raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 for 2030 and the advancement to 2027 of the requirement to contribute 43 years (and not 42 as now) to collect a full pension.