A protester holds a sign “Macron, you’re not the boss, give me back the money”, in Place de la Concorde, in Paris on March 16, 2023. THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
NEWSPAPER – The international media denounce the “weakness” of the French president who preferred to pass the reform by 49.3, rather than let the deputies vote in the Assembly.
After two months of heated debate around the pension reform project, the hour of the outcome has come. Under the boos of the opposition in the National Assembly, Elisabeth Borne triggered article 49.3 to pass the controversial text. A choice condemned by part of the French, some of whom demonstrated to shout their dissatisfaction. Sometimes by using violence, as was the case in Paris on the evening of Wednesday March 16.
Clashes between demonstrators and the police, mountains of garbage cans strewing the streets of the capital, then burning under flames in the middle of the road… These strong images of an angry France have gone around the whole world. Many of these shots illustrated the articles of the international press, sometimes placed at the top of their sites.
A French firefighter puts out a fire lit by protesters in Paris on March 16, 2023. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
The French are not the only ones to criticize the forced passage of the government. Foreign newspapers did not hesitate to attack the image of Emmanuel Macron. For The countrythe choice of 49.3 highlights the “haughty character and disconnected from the streetof the French president, whose popularity is at an all-time low.
Emmanuel Macron, a “lame duck”
The Spanish daily also judges the text of the reform of “decaffeinated», «less ambitious than initially“, by dint of the revisions made by the Senate and the joint committee. THE Telegrapha British daily, even wonders if this reform has not made Emmanuel Macron “a lame duck».
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Several newspapers agree that the head of state comes out of this political episode. When the Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda title on “Macron showed his weakness», the Telegraph evokes the “worst crisis since re-electionin 2022. For its part, the Corriere della Sera Italian simply writes:The use of 49.3 is a defeat.»
The Wall Street Journal wants to be more positive and defends the Head of State, “caught between demographic and geopolitical currents“. According to the American daily, Macron went back on pensions in order to “increase military spendingin the context of the war in Ukraine. He did not have a choice.
“A circus arena”
Elisabeth Borne’s speech to the National Assembly also marked the lines of foreign newspapers. THE New York Times mentions a “tension palpable“between the deputies of the majority and the Nupes who were brandishing signs”64 years is no!“, while singing La Marseillaise. A revealing situation of theanger», «frustration” and of “national uncertainty».
The world compares the hemicycle during the months devoted to debates to “a circus arena, where it was a question of who would shout the loudest or do the best antics“. Arm of honor of Éric Dupond-Moretti, Renaissance deputy who left the Assembly in tears, photo montages… Everything is reviewed by the German daily.
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But then, what future looms for the President of the Republic and his government? THE Guardian et The country wonder if Macron has not “wasted all his political capitalby bypassing Parliament to pass his reform. For The worldthe use of Article 49.3 opens “a political and social crisis with unknown consequences» car «it is experienced as an act of force on the part of the government».