It took Emmanuel Macron less than 10 months to return to his provocative rhetoric that had caused him a serious setback during his first term as French president. By deciding to use Article 49.3 of the Constitution to force through a pension reform that no one apart from his political allies felt necessary, Macron has taken the risk of reviving virulent opposition. Once again, his opponents are describing him as "top-down," "isolated" and "authoritarian."
MPs from the left-wing NUPES coalition were singing La Marseillaise, the national anthem, at the top of their voices on Thursday, March 16, in the chamber of the Assemblée Nationale while Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne resorted to Article 49.3. A few hours later, the demonstration orchestrated by left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon at the Place de la Concorde, where Louis XVI was executed, sought to revive the regicidal instincts of the crowd.
Fortunately, France has not quite reached this point, but Macron's popularity rating is flailing, falling back to levels similar to those during the Yellow Vests crisis that began at the end of 2018. Makeshift effigies of the French president were burned at demonstrations in Dijon, eastern France, and southern France's Foix. Once again, Macron seems to be teetering on the brink, as much the driving force behind a high-risk political reconfiguration as its victim.
A seemingly minor issue compared to the energy crisis, global warming, and the war in Ukraine, the minimum retirement age of 64 has been monopolizing the country's negative attention for three months. After the rejection of two motions of no confidence on Monday, January 20, one by only nine votes, the bill has still not completed its course. It still has to pass the test of the Constitutional Council, and perhaps the referendum that the left is dreaming of. Until then, unions remain strongly mobilized and the streets are subject to possible outbursts of violence. The government, which has become very unpopular, finds itself without any allies for the next four years. Was it all worth it?
Pledge of good faith to European partners
Macron's refusal to gamble with his reform on Thursday, March 16, in an ordinary vote that risked defeating it, leaves little doubt as to the importance he attaches to the bill. Attempting to balance the pay-as-you-go pension system, threatened by the return of deficits, is a (small) pledge of good faith to European partners in the face of the scale of deficits and debt which de facto weakens the French position.
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