French govt survives no-confidence votes over pension reform

Paris

The French government faced down two no-confidence votes Wednesday over an overhaul of the country’s byzantine pensions system, a key victory after fierce protests and a massive transport strike that brought France to a standstill for weeks this winter. The bill’s passage in the lower house of parliament clears a major hurdle for one of President Emmanuel Macron’s signature reforms, though the text still faces opposition as it moves to the Senate.

The law passed in the small hours after the government survived two no-confidence votes introduced by the opposition against Macron’s centrist majority. The attempt to topple the government came after it employed a rare constitutional measure to cut short a debate that had become bogged down in a morass of opposition amendments, effectively forcing the bill through.

Trade unions and opposition parties slammed the move as anti-democratic, but their calls for fresh protests against a bill that triggered the longest French transport strike in decades fell largely on deaf ears. Critics say the introduction of a single, points-based system will force people to work beyond the official retirement age of 62, or receive lower pensions. The government argues that abolishing the country’s 42 separate pension regimes, which offer early retirement and other benefits mainly to public-sector workers, will be fairer and end years of deficits.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe hailed the text as a victory for “social justice”, saying that “those who defend the status quo... too often are just talking nonsense.” Damien Abad, head of the rightwing Republicans in the National Assembly, denounced “an unprecedented parliamentary fiasco” to push through a reform in which French workers will be “the biggest losers”.