The info not to miss
Will the government fall? The executive must deal with a political crisis after the outbreak Thursday of 49.3 decided by Emmanuel Macron on the pension reform. The opposition has the only possibility of a motion of censure, to be tabled before 3:20 p.m. this Friday. If it finds a majority in the hemicycle, it will bring down the government.
The boss of the National Rally group, Marine Le Pen, was the first to announce the filing of a motion of censure against the government of Elisabeth Borne. And Jean-Luc Mélenchon said this Friday morning that LFI was going to “withdraw” his own to support that of Liot, which is more likely to be voted on by right-wing deputies unfavorable to pension reform. LR for his part indicated that his group will not vote for the motion of censure. The votes will take place a priori on Monday.
What else to remember
- Angry protests erupted across the country on Thursday evening. Thursday evening, the police intervened to evacuate the Place de la Concorde where several thousand demonstrators had gathered. Announcing 310 arrests in France – including 258 in Paris -, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin denounced this Friday in particular “burnt effigies” in Dijon and “targeted prefectures”. Incidents also broke out in Rennes, Nantes, Amiens, Lille, Marseille and Grenoble.
- New call to strike next Thursday. The inter-union fighting against pension reform called Thursday evening for “local local rallies” this weekend, and a ninth day of strikes and demonstrations on Thursday March 23. From this Friday, the CGT temporarily disrupted traffic on the Paris ring road and announced the shutdown of the TotalEnergie refinery in Normandy this weekend.
- Darmanin asks the prefects to protect the elected officials. The Minister of the Interior sent a message on Thursday evening to all the prefects asking them for their greatest “vigilance” and “full mobilization to guarantee the safety of all the elected officials of our Republic. The system involves “surveillance around the offices of parliamentarians and their homes” but also “reinforced monitoring on social networks” or even “informing elected officials of the steps to be taken in the event of an incident”.
- Kickoff disrupted Monday for the baccalaureate? Several National Education unions are calling for “continuing” the mobilization, “including by the strike of supervisors during the baccalaureate specialty exams which begin on Monday”, Franceinfo said on Friday. But will this call be followed? This is the first time that the written specialty tests have been held in March, in accordance with the initial calendar of the 2019 baccalaureate reform.
it concerns you
Blockades and strikes continue in Paris and in several cities in France against the pension reform. Union officials in the transport and energy sectors have also warned against possible “excesses” or “individual actions” by rank-and-file employees. Roadblocks have thus taken place in Brittany, or on the Paris ring road. In Ile-de-France transport, the service will remain disrupted on lines B and D of the RER (with one train out of 2 and 3 trains out of 5). Similarly, disruptions are to be noted on certain TGV lines. Le Parisien takes stock of the main actions carried out this Friday.