Pension reform: the press castigates the "failure" and "weakness" of Emmanuel Macron

Europe 1 with AFP 09:02, March 17, 2023

"Admission of weakness", "failure", "pants": the French press unanimously castigates Friday the use of article 49.3 to pass the pension reform, and points the finger at Emmanuel Macron for the political and social crisis that threatens. The international press is not to be outdone, stressing like the New York Times that "the conflict over pensions reveals a weakened and more isolated Macron", or Die Zeit according to which "this reform will weigh on the country for a long time".

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"What an admission of weakness!"

"What an admission of weakness!" exclaims Jean-Marcel Bouguereau in the Republic of the Pyrenees. The government does not have an absolute majority to pass the flagship reform of the five-year term," he continues, believing that "it is a huge political crisis that is coming." "Zero political gain, major social cost. The failure of a tactic signs, moreover, the crying loneliness of the President," writes Florence Chédotal in La Montagne. "Now, how do you regain control when the mother of reforms ends like this?" she asks, referring to a "disastrous sequence where the fog thickens".

Hi all. On the front page of this Friday, Elisabeth Borne uses the 49.3 to impose the pension reform. In Cantal, the unions want to "increase the pressure". The SA moves to Colomiers, already thinking a little about next season. #cantal#aurillacpic.twitter.com/IdEftcXv2v

— La Montagne Aurillac (@lamontagne_15) March 17, 2023

"Emmanuel Macron has himself stuck in a political impasse," says Patrick Jankielewicz in La Voix du Nord. "If we had to save the pension reform, there was only one way to do it: we had to go to the vote. It was of course running the risk of being beaten, but in politics, it is sometimes better to fall with honors than to pass in force and without glory at the risk of throwing gasoline on the social fire.

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"Quinquennium already over?"

"One question already dominates all the others after this historic day: eleven months after its beginning, is Emmanuel Macron's five-year term already over?" asks Maurice Bontinck in La Charente Libre, for whom the use of 49.3 "resonates as an admission of weakness of what should be called today 'the presidential minority'". "The taste of failure", headlines Yves Thréard in Le Figaro, who also believes that "the executive is more than ever weakened". Same observation for Christophe Lucet (South-West), for whom "it is a weakened tandem that will have to manage the after". "The trade union and popular anger that intensified yesterday, after the abortive session at the Palais Bourbon, is fraught with threats. With, in the worst case, a prolonged blockade of the country. And if not, a rancour that will find other reasons to express itself, curbing the government's will to reform," warns the editorialist.

On the front page of @Libe this Friday: Pension crisis: his fault

Read:

https://t.co/nj2k4mQp7hpic.twitter.com/QpkIzA8F97

— Liberation (@libe) March 16, 2023

The same concern is expressed for Libération, whose editorial by Dov Alfon believes that "it is in instability that (the) ill-gotten pension reform pushes France, its democracy and its workers." "The President could save the furniture by announcing that the law will be repealed after this undemocratic passage. But it's not his kind to listen to the French," he said. "Is there still a pilot in the Elysian plane, responsible and feet on the ground, fully aware of the chaos he is installing in his own country?" asks Olivier Biscay (Midi Libre). "Emmanuel Macron wanted to make history, he has just won the pompom of the pants," he castigates.

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"The arsonist of the Elysee"

"Crisis of regime", headlines Maud Vergnol in L'Humanité. "With this new recourse to 49.3, the divorce between our institutions and the people is consummated, culminating in a creeping crisis of delegitimization of political power, opening a royal road to authoritarian temptations. The arsonist of the Elysée is the only one responsible for this situation," she said. More measured in its criticism, the international press nevertheless draws the same observation of a weakened president and an explosive social situation in France.

L' Humanité for Friday, March 17, 2023 at newsagents and from tonight 22:00 on computer. https://t.co/s4nZf9skga tablets and smartphones with our iOS https://t.co/Nwm028Ng9C and Android apps https://t.co/AzRCWAjIRD#ReformeDesRetraitespic.twitter.com/LU48wbGV5G

— L'Humanité (@humanite_fr) March 16, 2023

"The Republic blocked", headlines Die Zeit, according to which "there are reforms so a government never gets back up". "Trust in the president and Parliament, already at half-mast, suffered a further blow on Thursday. Emmanuel Macron is primarily responsible," said the German weekly. The use of 49.3 symbolizes "the failure of politics and a deep institutional crisis," says Ana Fuentes in El Pais.

For this former Paris correspondent of the Spanish daily, "Macron, whose popularity is at its lowest, always questioned for his haughty character and disconnected from the street, has entered the same phase as his predecessors Alain Juppé, in 1995, and Nicolas Sarkozy, in 2010, when they also reformed pensions."