Arthur Delaborde 14:10pm, March 17, 2023

In the wake of the government's use of article 49.3 to pass the pension reform bill, the president faces a major challenge: to regain control of the situation. But what option will seize Emmanuel Macron, called to resign by his opponents?

This Friday, the French are back in the streets. The day before, the government passed the pension reform bill, triggering a wave of protests across the France. In the hemicycle too, many Members of Parliament are disagreeing. Are Elisabeth Borne and her government weakened?

The Prime Minister had made compromise her common thread at Matignon. As a result, it put all the unions on the streets and the agreement it reached with the Republicans did not bear fruit in the Assembly. His opponents are already calling for his resignation and his place at Matignon also fractures Macronia. The president will therefore try to regain control. But now, Emmanuel Macron seems to have only bad options in front of him: continue without changing anything, reshuffle or dissolve. But with what result?

Public opinion not prepared for 49.3?

How did the executive get here? A heavyweight of macronia ensures that in reality, two hypotheses have been studied in recent days: that of 49.3, but also that of going to the vote while having the certainty of losing. Because the counts transmitted on Sunday by The Republicans showed that it was impossible to win.

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However, publicly, the main leaders of the presidential camp have multiplied the outputs to ensure that there was a majority to vote for this reform. Nothing was done to prepare opinion for 49.3 and the executive gave the impression of acting in haste.