A difficult after-sales service. 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 reporters. Parisian Sunday. “But it will be a moment of truth. Is pension reform worth yes or no, the fall of the government and political disorder? The answer is clearly “no”, according to the minister, a heavyweight in the government. “Let everyone take their responsibilities! “.
Emmanuel Marcon’s popularity has plummeted
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’, ‘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 affirmed to the Sunday newspaper.
According to Ifop’s monthly barometer published by the JDDthe popularity of the President of the Republic of Emmanuel Macron collapsed in March, to 28%, the lowest since emerging from the crisis of “yellow vests” in 2019. A poll carried out before the use of 49.3.
Concorde prohibited from gatherings
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.
The permanence of Ciotti stoned
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. In total, the police carried out 169 arrests in France on Saturday, including 122 in Paris, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
The President of the Republicans Eric Ciotti reported on Twitter that his parliamentary office in Nice had been stoned overnight from 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).
Two motions of censure
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 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.
