French government faces no-confidence votes over Macron pension plans

Motions to be put before parliament against backdrop of rising tensions between protesters and police

The French government is to face two no-confidence motions amid street protests, strikes and roadblocks in opposition to Emmanuel Macron’s decision to push through an unpopular rise in the pension age without a parliament vote.

The no-confidence votes are taking place on Monday afternoon against a backdrop of increasing tension on the streets, after clashes between protesters and police in Paris at the weekend and demonstrations in cities around the country. Roadblocks and demonstrations at roundabouts were under way in some parts of France on Monday, including outside Nantes and Lorient. In Rennes, bins were set alight on a highway and cars were stopped.

After teaching unions called for strikes this week, there was concern over whether supervision would be affected at exams for high-school students that began on Monday. School heads were confident that enough supervisors would be in place for the exams.

The no-confidence motions were called in protest at the government using controversial executive powers to raise the state pension age from 62 to 64.

Macron decided last week that the government should use article 49.3 of the constitution to bypass parliament, because he feared it could not garner enough votes for the pension changes. Macron’s centrist grouping lost its absolute majority in parliament at elections last June.

Bringing down the government with a no-confidence vote was “the only way of stopping the social and political crisis in this country”, said Charles de Courson, France’s longest-serving MP and member of the small opposition centrist grouping Liot, who authored one of the no-confidence motions.

“If we continue like this, no one will control anything. That’s what all the trade union leaders are telling us … that they’re seeing things becoming more radical,” he told France Inter radio.

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