Emmanuel Macron survives no-confidence vote by just NINE votes over hugely unpopular pension reforms that have triggered violent protests in France
- The French president squeezed through the vote in the National Assembly today
- It comes after waves of violence over plans to raise pension age from 62 to 64
French President Emmanuel Macron‘s government today survived a no-confidence vote by just nine votes.
The poll in the National Assembly on Monday was triggered by the head of state raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 without a parliamentary vote.
The no-confidence motion needed 287 votes to pass but got 278 – a tiny margin of victory for Mr Macron.
It means that the hugely unpopular pension reform will now pass straight into law, but further opposition is inevitable.
Rioters have been on the streets of France since Mr Macron ignored the National Assembly last Thursday, so as to bring the new legislation in by presidential decree.
It comes after Mr Macron’s decision to push up the the retirement age from 62 to 64 through bypassing parliament caused widespread violent protests across France
A French police officer in riot gear stands next to a fire during a demonstration in Bordeaux, southwestern France, on March 18, 2023
As the censure motion result was read out, opposition MPs from the Left-wing France Unbowed party held up printed signs saying ‘RIP’, while shouting ‘Resignation! Resignation!’
The narrow vote is a personal disaster for Mr Macron’s prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, who had tried to rally a parliamentary majority for the legislation.
Numerous politicians had been threatened with the guillotine if they supported President Macron’s government.
Police said macabre messages had been sent to MPs preparing for the crucial poll.
‘I am now receiving death threats,’ said Agnes Evren, MP and vice-president of the Republicans party.
She said anonymous tormenters had evoked the guillotining of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette in Paris during the so-called ‘Terror’ that followed the 1789 Revolution.
‘These extremist refuse debate – they have no respect for their political adversaries and are openly inspired by the Terror,’ Ms Evren Tweeted.
A French Gendarme kicks a street fire during a demonstration in Paris, on March 18, 2023
‘Do not underestimate the danger any longer. Every threat of this type will now be the subject of a complaint.’
Frederique Meunier, of the Republicans party, said: ‘It’s as if they want to decapitate us.’
And Guillaume Gouffier Valente, an MP with Mr Macron’s Renaissance Party, saw a hangman’s sign scrawled outside his office in Vincennes, east of Paris.
‘He has since made a formal request to the Ministry of Interior for police protection for colleagues under threat,’ said a party spokesman.
Renaissance MP Brigitte Klinkert reported graffiti outside her office reading: ‘You vote against us, we will remember.’
There was a fourth night of violence across France on Sunday following Mr Macron’s decision to bypass parliament last Thursday.
Gangs roamed through the streets of major cities including Paris, burning effigies of the President and senior ministers before police responded with teargas and baton charges.
