The French government has narrowly saved the motion of censure that sought to knock down the controversial pension reform, approved on Thursday by decree, without a vote of the Assembly. Two had been presented and the one that had the most possibilities, that of the Liot group, has managed to bring together the left and the extreme right, but they have lacked a handful of votes, nine, to obtain an absolute majority, 287. The motion was rejected by gathering 278 seats.

The controversial law that aims to delay the retirement age goes ahead in extremis, with seven out of 10 French against and almost the entire parliamentary arc, after two months of protests and 10 days of general strike. Macron saves her in the seats, but not on the street, a hotbed of discontent that threatens to get worse.

The fuse of citizen anger burned last Thursday, when he decided to approve the reform through article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows it to be done without a vote, given the doubts of having the necessary support in the Hemicycle.

The left and the far right have already announced that they will appeal to the Constitutional Council. Two motions had been filed to try to stop the law. That of Marine Le Pen's group (National Rally), which has not yet been voted on but had no chances, and that of the Liot group, supported by the majority, but which needed to mobilize half of the deputies of The Republicans (61 seats). Its president had given the opportunity not to vote so as not to aggravate the chaos. Many of these parliamentarians have done so, but not enough.

The tension has remained until the last moment. Macron also had his support to approve the reform in the Assembly, but the division within the party and doubts about whether he would achieve support led him to decide not to vote and use article 49.3, so as not to take risks.

"We assume to have participated in this reform," defended the deputy of The Republicans Olivier Marleix, in his speech: "We will not associate with those who are under the slogan 'break everything or the revolution'," he said.

Criticism of Borne

In their speeches the parliamentarians have had harsh words for the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne. "With 49.3 they have betrayed the people, it has no legitimacy," said Nupes deputy Mathilde Panot. "His government is already dead."

"We defend many values that have been attacked with this text of pensions," said Charles de Courson, deputy of Liot, in his speech.

When Mr Borne took the floor, the Members of the left left left the Chamber. The prime minister has criticized the "anti-parliamentarism" attitude of the left, which "has always tried to prevent debate." They are "parliamentarians who say that the street is more legitimate than the institutions," he criticized.

TENSION IN THE STREETS

The law aims to raise the retirement age from the current 62 to 64 and bring forward the requirement to contribute 43 years to 2027. Seven out of 10 French people are opposed, who also support Borne's resignation. This has summoned tonight the parties of the presidential majority in a meeting. Although she is not obliged to resign, the president will most likely replace her, given that she is the visible face of this unpopular reform. If I did, I would try to wipe the slate clean.

This doesn't seem very likely if you take a look at the street. Uncompromising on reform despite turning the country against him, Macron faces the biggest social crisis since that of the yellow vests, the protest movement that marked his first term. He was re-elected a year ago and still has four more of this second, also marked by citizen discontent.

Since last Thursday there have been protests, many violent, with burning containers and barricades. The weather could heat up quickly and already in the morning, before the vote on the motions, the blockades took place in many cities of the country, in Rennes traffic was blocked from early in the morning. The country's largest refinery, in Normandy, is at a standstill and in many cities there are already queues to refuel.

What best represents the chaos that France is experiencing these days are the 10,000 tons of garbage that have been in Paris for two weeks, when the garbage dumps went on strike. Interior has tried to mobilize personnel by force to collect part, but in some cases it has been prevented. Some radical protesters have taken advantage of these days to burn it.

The unions have already said that they will continue with the mobilizations and there is a day of strike (the tenth already) called for Thursday. This afternoon thousands of people gathered around the Assembly. French police on Thursday banned gatherings in the Place de la Concorde, which has become a symbol of protest and resistance to the law.

The Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, has multiplied the interventions in the media in recent days to insist on the financial arguments of the reform, which the Government defends as necessary to balance the system, which has already entered into deficit because there are more retirees collecting a pension than active workers to pay them. "The political responsibility is to explain reality, not to make citizens under false illusions," Le Maire said in the morning.

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