Pensions - "Elisabeth Borne cannot stay": the opposition stands up against the activation of 49.3

Europe 1 with AFP 16:16 p.m., March 16, 2023

Outcry in oppositions. This Thursday, the Council of Ministers authorized the government to engage its responsibility before the National Assembly to adopt the pension reform without a vote, after the choice of Emmanuel Macron to use the controversial tool of 49.3, we learned from the Elysee. "The Prime Minister asked the President to be able to engage the responsibility of his government on the text resulting from the joint committee" which brought together Wednesday deputies and senators, told AFP the presidency of the Republic. A decision that quickly made opponents react.

Laurent Berger announces "new mobilizations"

"There will be new mobilizations" against the pension reform, CFDT secretary general Laurent Berger told AFP on Thursday, denouncing a "democratic vice" after the government's decision to activate the constitutional weapon of 49.3 to pass its reform.

"Obviously there will be new mobilizations, because the protest is extremely strong, we already have a lot of reactions from the union teams. We will decide together in an inter-union," which will be held Thursday evening at the headquarters of the CGT, he added.

By using 49.3, the government is demonstrating that it does not have a majority to approve the two-year postponement of the legal retirement age. The political compromise failed. It is the workers who must be listened to when we claim to act on their work.

— Laurent Berger (@CfdtBerger) March 16, 2023

Marine Le Pen announces that she will table a motion of censure

Marine Le Pen (RN) announced Thursday that she would table a motion of censure against the government after the use of 49.3 on the text of the pension reform by Elisabeth Borne, considering that the latter "can not stay" in Matignon. "We hope that those who were about to vote against this pension reform will vote for this motion of censure. As far as we are concerned, we will table a motion and we will vote on all the motions of censure that will be tabled," added the president of the National Rally (RN) group in the National Assembly, which has 88 deputies.

The unfortunate triple presidential candidate said that the use of 49.3 "is an admission of total failure for Emmanuel Macron", "a personal failure" of the President of the Republic, as much as an "extraordinary admission of weakness" of the government. According to her, Elisabeth Borne "cannot stay" at Matignon. "She has to go. Staying would be seen as an additional slap in the face to the French people," Le Pen added, considering that the situation was one of a "political crisis".

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LIVE - Pension reform: Borne activates 49.3, motions of censure announced

Fabien Roussel wants to set up a referendum of shared initiative

French Communist Party (PCF) MP Fabien Roussel reacted quickly to the triggering of 49.3 by the Prime Minister in order to avoid a vote on pension reform by the National Assembly. For Fabien Roussel, "the government chooses 49.3 and decides to make this reform even more illegitimate". To oppose this, the leader of the PCF wants to engage in a "great popular battle with the inter-union" to be able to set up a referendum of shared initiative (RIP), he said on Twitter.

The government chooses 49-3 and decides to make this reform even more illegal!

We have a tool: the REFERENDUM, the RIP.

Let us engage in a great popular battle with the inter-union which has shown great responsibility.

— Fabien Roussel (@Fabien_Roussel) March 16, 2023

The president's "whims"

Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure on Thursday denounced the president's "whims" after Emmanuel Macron's decision to use article 49.3 to pass his highly controversial pension reform without a vote in the Assembly. "The Elysee is not a park to shelter the whims of the president," tweeted Olivier Faure. "When a president has no majority in the country, no majority in the National Assembly, he must withdraw his project," he added. The coordinator of La France insoumise Manuel Bompard denounced "the permanent coup de force". "The people are against them. Let's get them out," he pleaded.

When a president has no majority in the country, no majority in the National Assembly, he must withdraw his project. The Elysée is not a park to shelter the whims of the president. #64ansCestNon

— Olivier Faure (@faureolivier) March 16, 2023

For the leader of the communists Fabien Roussel, "this reform will be illegitimate," he told the press. "We still have a tool, the Referendum of shared initiative (recourse to the initiative of parliamentarians and citizens, editor's note). In this case, we have a good campaign ahead of us and in the meantime the reform will be suspended. Parliament will have been flouted and humiliated to the end." "We will not stop there," abounded on Twitter the national secretary of EELV Marine Tondelier, stressing that "in the street, the 49.3, it does not exist". "Emmanuel Macron's choice to use 49.3 is fraught with meaning and illustrates his contempt, failure and brutality," she added.

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LFI MPs call for the resignation of Elisabeth Borne

Marseillaise sung and signs "64 years, it's no" brandished by left-wing deputies: the session devoted to the pension reform began Thursday in the heckling at the National Assembly, at the arrival of Elisabeth Borne to trigger the 49.3.

After a first false start due to a delay by the Prime Minister, the session was briefly interrupted. Elisabeth Borne ended up speaking from the rostrum, in front of LFI deputies calling for her "resignation".