MADRID, 13 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
French President Emmanuel Macron has called for the “responsibility” of the “oppositions”, in reference to the Republican party, to guarantee parliamentary approval of his controversial pension reform.
“This reform is urgently necessary for the financing of our pensions and the solidity of the country. We have a solid majority,” Macron declared, according to French television BFMTV.
“We must carry this speech and appeal to the responsibility of the oppositions that could vote for the reform,” Macron added.
In particular, the Government appeals to the conservative party Los Republicanos. “It would be fantastic to have a party that votes in the Senate but not in the National Assembly,” said Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire. “The culture of the right is the balance of public finances,” he stressed in statements to France Info.
Specifically, he has criticized the deputies who now oppose the text while they were favorable during the presidential campaign. “By dint of inconsistencies we are not going anywhere,” she has indicated.
Now there is speculation about a new recourse by the Government to article 49.3 of the Constitution, a kind of legislative ordeal by which any norm is approved unless a motion of censure is presented that gathers the necessary support.
If the government resorts to 49.3 “it would be breaking the rules of democracy” and should wait for “reactions”, according to the leader of the General Confederation of Workers (CGT) union, Olivier Mateu. The CGT has carried the main weight of the seven weeks of consecutive protests against the pension reform.
The far-right leader Marine Le Pen has also warned this Monday that she will present a motion of no confidence and that they will vote in favor of others that are presented if the Government resorts to 49.3.
However, the spokesman for the French Executive, Olivier Véran, has stressed that 49.3 is “a constitutional tool (…) used, reused and reused under certain mandates”, in reference to the former socialist prime minister Michel Rocard. In any case, he has pointed out that “it is not a tool that we are thinking about”.
“Not all the opposition parties have said that they are going to vote against it,” he stressed. Senators from Los Republicanos have voted in favor of the legislative proposal promoted by La República En Marcha, Macron’s party.