During the early hours of this Tuesday, March 21, there were clashes in Paris and the main French cities, which ended with the arrest of more than 250 people, when anger rose over the approval of the pension reform. Meanwhile, the far-right opposition filed an appeal with the Constitutional Council against the amendment, after the government passed two no-confidence motions against Parliament a day earlier.
Streets of Paris and other cities in France woke up this March 21 with damage and dozens of detainees. Thousands of protesters showed their anger after Emmanuel Macron’s government passed the two motions of no confidence filed against it by the opposition, one of them by just nine votes. Although this meant a fundamental parliamentary victory for the French Executive, the situation on the streets seems to be far from alleviating.
The unpopular measure that mainly proposes increasing the retirement age from 62 to 64 years is rejected inside and outside Parliament.
In the last few hours, the far-right National Regrouping (RN) party filed an appeal before the Constitutional Council against the measure so that “this text falls into the oblivion of history and is thrown in the trash,” said Thomas Ménagé, spokesman of that bench led by the former presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen.
It is also expected that the deputies of the New Ecological and Social Popular Union (Nupes) and the senators of the Socialist Party (PS) each present their own appeal.
The question now is to know what will be the next decisions that President Macron will take, after experiencing one of the most tense moments since he became president on account of the pension reform proposed by his government.
The changes, if there are any, will be announced on Wednesday, March 22, in a televised address by President Emmanuel Macron to the entire nation, which will be broadcast at 1:00 p.m. in Paris.
After the tense day of Monday, March 21, there are many speculations that circulate about what will be the solution that the Executive will propose as an alternative, although sources close to the Elysee deny that the president is willing to dissolve the National Assembly to call legislative elections, to hold changes in their government or to request the calling of a referendum to ask the public their opinion on the controversial reform.
Blockades persist after a night of violence
France woke up with several roads blocked in regions such as Brittany, essential for the entry of hydrocarbons, and with hundreds of workers blocking the entrance of various refineries and nuclear power plants such as Bugey or refineries such as Feyzin. The main objective is to increase the pressure on the Executive by cutting off access to electricity or fuel.
In fact, the CGT, the second most important union in the country, announced its intention to promote new “targeted power cuts” as part of the fight against the pension reform.
“We will also go towards cuts, focused cuts, what we call energy sobriety, because that, in itself, is attacking capital, those who govern us, those who are by law”, declared the general secretary of the FNME -CGT, Sébastien Menesplier, during a visit to the picket line at the Gravelines nuclear power plant, in the north of the country. “We are going to show them that we are mobilized and that we are determined,” he concluded.
The power outages have especially affected parliamentary venues and occasionally a few thousand French people, although the situation has not become general.
Gasoline shortages force the Government to end blockades at refineries
What is beginning to be a problem for the French government is the shortage of gasoline and diesel at gas stations in some regions due to the blockades at the refineries. For this reason, the authorities decided to intervene on Tuesday, forcing some strikers to work and unblocking strategic oil centers.
Sources consulted through the French newspaper ‘Le Figaro’ state that approximately 9.5% of the country’s gas stations register a lack of one of these two fuels, although there is no official figure.
The most affected region appears to be Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, on the Mediterranean coast. Hence, the Ministry of Energy Transition has announced that for 48 hours it will force the return to work of some employees of the Fos-sur-Mer deposit in that department. The idea is to force three workers to operate per shift. In addition, throughout the early morning the authorities cleared roads to facilitate the transport of fuel.
These movements come hours after the Macron Executive passed two no-confidence motions, one of them just nine votes short of the number needed to bring down the cabinet of the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne.
France experienced a night plagued by riots in which there were incidents such as the burning of garbage in Paris and up to 287 arrests. The Ministry of the Interior confirmed on Tuesday morning the identity of all the detainees and stated that their retentions are “totally justified.”
In addition, the Prime Minister addressed all the parliamentarians who voted against the motion of no confidence to thank them for their “tenacity” in the face of the “intimidation carried out by the opposition.” Borne is the main one pointed out, along with President Macron, for executing this reform.
Nous arrivons au terme du cheminement démocratique de cette réforme essentielle pour notre pays.
C’est avec humilité et gravité que j’ai engagé ma responsabilité et celle de mon Gouvernement.
Pour notre systeme de retraites par répartition.
For our social model.— Élisabeth BORNE (@Elisabeth_Borne) March 20, 2023
In addition to the spontaneous demonstrations and strikes that have been going on in some sectors for almost two weeks, the unions are organizing for next Thursday, March 23, the ninth day of work stoppages in rejection of the pension reform. These organizations have shown unusual unity in recent weeks and, although the reform was adopted by presidential decree, they still hope that the pressure in the streets will make the government reconsider.
The measure has been defended as “fundamental” by the Macron government, because the aging of the population could put the system at risk, he says. The fundamental change, an increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64, brings France closer to the European average for qualifying for a pension.
With EFE and Reuters
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