Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT, France's biggest union, said more demonstrations were planned. Should it fail - the more likely outcome - opposition groups pledged to seek to overturn the reform by filing an appeal with the constitutional council or seeking a popular referendum - which requires the backing of a fifth of parliamentarians and a tenth of the voting population, namely 4.87 million people. Should it pass, the prime minister will likely resign and Mr Macron could dissolve parliament.
Mr Macron reportedly told ministers during an Elysée crisis meeting that the "financial risks" were too great not to see the reform passed.įrance Unbowed, the hard-Left party, and Marine Le Pen's hard-Right National Rally both said they would back a proposal by an independent centrist MP group to table a joint no-confidence motion. In scenes of high tension, she declared: "We cannot gamble on the future of our pensions, and this reform is necessary." To chants of "La Marseillaise" and "resign" from the opposition, Élisabeth Borne, the French prime minister, announced that her minority government would trigger article 49.3 of the constitution that bypasses a vote. The opposition said the controversial move was a denial of democracy and an admission of weakness while unions warned it was tantamount to a declaration of war.Ī spontaneous demonstration of several thousand people erupted on Thursday night in the Place de la Concorde, in Paris, where fires were lit and protesters clashed with police. France is on the verge of a "democratic breakdown", Emmanuel Macron was warned last night after he rammed his unpopular pension reform through parliament without a vote.
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