French government to face no-confidence vote over

pension age rise

The guardian news

Sun 19 Mar 2023

On March 16th 2023, After the French president Macron has raised age pension in France from
62 to 64 without a parliamentary vote, thousands of people have been protesting and striking
over weekend chaotically in the streets in order to preserve their retirement benefits. As a
result, the French government is going to face no confidence vote over pension because they
worried for their safety. the use of contentious executive powers to raise the state pension age
has prompted two motions of no confidence from opposition politicians.

The Nupes alliance of left-leaning parties joined the centrist group Liot in supporting one of the
motions, which was framed as a multiparty motion of no confidence. The far-right National Rally
party, which has 88 MPs and is led by Marine Le Pen, has put out yet another resolution of no
confidence.
Morever, A substantial number of members of “Les Républicains” would be required for a no-
confidence vote to succeed. Yet, Éric Ciotti, the party's head, has instructed his lawmakers to
abstain from voting since doing so could cause chaos.

The third night of public protests since the government pushed through the pension
amendments resulted in more than 160 arrests across France by early Sunday morning. Bins
were set on fire, and there were skirmishes with protesters in Bordeaux and Nantes while police
in Paris deployed tear gas. In Lyon, several people were detained after police claimed groups of
violent people started the fights.
Following altercations with protestors last week, Paris police authorities have continued to
forbid demonstrators from congregating in the Plaza de la Concorde across from the parliament.

Although while officials said that supplies were sufficient to prevent shortages, strike activity
increased throughout the weekend, leading to refinery shutdowns and the start of gasoline lines
in the south. More than 10,000 tons of trash had accumulated across half of Paris'
neighborhoods as a result of the two-week long refuse strike by bin employees, Philippe
Martinez of the left-leaning CGT trade union warned.

Last but not least, one major issue was the important baccalaureate tests for high school
graduates, which start on Monday right after teachers' unions called for strikes. High school
pupils are already under a lot of stress, according to Laurent Berger of the moderate CFDT
union, therefore the exams shouldn't be disturbed.