Approval means new elections: Le Pen announces no-confidence vote

Approval means new elections
Le Pen announces no-confidence vote

Many members of the French National Assembly are served. They boo Prime Minister Borne when she announces that pension reform will be passed without a vote in the House of Commons. The right-wing populist parliamentary group leader Le Pen is counting on a vote of no confidence.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has linked the adoption of the highly controversial pension reform in France with a vote of confidence in Parliament. “I’m taking responsibility with my government,” Borne said in the National Assembly in Paris, amid outraged boos.

The Prime Minister officially announced the application of Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows a law to be passed without a parliamentary vote if the government survives one or more related no-confidence motions. The opposition has 24 hours to table one or more motions of no confidence.

The right-wing populist parliamentary group leader Marine Le Pen immediately announced a motion from her group. If the government loses the vote, it amounts to new elections. The mood in the National Assembly was very heated during Borne’s announcement. Some members of parliament loudly sang the national anthem, and there were numerous angry heckling.

Opposition accused of blockade attitude

“We’re not sure about some votes, we can’t take the risk,” said Borne, explaining the decision to refrain from voting in the National Assembly, which was originally planned for 3 p.m. The prime minister accused the opposition of blocking the debates.

The controversial pension reform was approved in the Senate, the upper house of the French parliament, in the morning. However, the government does not have an absolute majority in the National Assembly and is dependent on votes from conservative Republicans. The French government wants to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 to prevent a deficit in the pension fund. There have been nationwide protests in France for weeks against the reform plans.

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