Demonstration against pension reform in Marseille on March 18, 2023 (AFP / CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU)
On the eve of a decisive day with the debate on the motions of censure, ministers are stepping up to defend the unpopular pension reform and the use of 49.3, without allaying the anger of the opponents, who have been demonstrating for several days.
“I don’t think there will be a majority to bring down the government,” Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told Le Parisien on Sunday.
“But it will be a moment of truth. Is the pension reform worth yes or no, the fall of the government and the political disorder? The answer is clearly + no +”, according to the minister, heavyweight of the government. “Let everyone take their responsibilities!”.
According to the Minister of Labour, Olivier Dussopt, who has been carrying out this reform for months, “of course, a motion of censure can always be adopted” in the National Assembly. “But for that it would have to bring together a coalition of + against +, of + anti +, to obtain a very heterogeneous majority without a common political line”.
The “first objective” of the government “is to carry out this reform to save our pension system” and “we hold it”, he told the Journal du Dimanche.
According to the monthly Ifop barometer published by the JDD, the popularity of the President of the Republic of Emmanuel Macron collapsed in March, to 28%, the lowest since the end of the crisis of “yellow vests” in 2019. A survey conducted before the use of 49.3.
Use of water cannons to disperse a demonstration against the pension reform, when some participants engaged in degradations, in Paris on March 18, 2023 (AFP / Geoffroy Van der Hasselt)
After several days of mobilization and demonstrations, at the call of the inter-union bringing together all the major organizations, the recourse to article 49.3 of the Constitution by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, Thursday, set fire to the powder.
Since then, organized or spontaneous gatherings have taken place throughout the territory, calmly or with excesses.
The Place de la Concorde in Paris, located near the National Assembly and the Elysee Palace, is now prohibited from gatherings, after clashes Friday evening on this place which has become a rallying point for opponents of the reform.
Saturday evening, a rally in the south of Paris, at the call of the CGT Ile-de-France, turned into a procession, before overflows, various destructions and clashes with the police.
– “Deep disagreement” –
In Lyon, the evening turned into a game of cat and mouse, between young demonstrators and police, with 17 arrests, but without the violence observed Friday evening in this city.
Demonstration in Bordeaux against the pension reform, March 18, 2023 (AFP / THIBAUD MORITZ)
In total, the police carried out 169 arrests in France on Saturday, including 122 in Paris, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
The demonstrators questioned in recent days by AFP during rallies in France express anger, in the vast majority of cases by marching calmly, with slogans and signs.
Thus, Léa Botté, 29 years old and project manager in the agricultural association, said she was “angry” on Saturday, during the rally in Lille. Faced with a government “deaf to all mobilization, it is important to demonstrate this weekend without waiting for the vote on motions of censure”. “The Assembly needs to have a sounding board in the street. We must be there to show that we are in deep disagreement with this structuring reform, which affects everyone”.
President of the Republicans Eric Ciotti reported on Twitter that his parliamentary office in Nice had been stoned – with supporting photos – on the night of Saturday to Sunday, for, according to him, “to put pressure” so that he votes Monday the motion of censure.
In favor of this reform, he has already warned that his party would not vote “any” of the motions, so as not to “add chaos to chaos”.
But a handful of deputies from his camp announced that they would at least vote for the cross-party motion presented by the independent group Liot (Freedoms, Independents Overseas and Territories).
The two motions tabled, by Liot and by elected members of the National Rally (RN), will be debated and put to the vote in the National Assembly on Monday from 4:00 p.m.
Liot’s motion, co-signed by elected officials from Nupes, is more likely to be voted on by right-wing deputies unfavorable to pension reform than that of the RN. But the absolute majority bar to bring down the government seems difficult to achieve.
© 2023 AFP
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