Photo courtesy of Jeanne Menjouley via Flickr.
French protesters take to the streets to speak out against President Macron’s pension reform bill.
By Elizabeth Murray ’26
Staff Writer
On March 20, 2023, France’s lower legislative body, Assemblée Nationale, which is similar to the United States’ House of Representatives, held two votes over a motion of no confidence against President Emmanuel Macron’s government according to France 24. The New York Times reported that this vote came after the president decided to invoke Article 49.3 of the French constitution to pass his government’s pension reforms. Invoking Article 49.3 means that the government can push a bill through the Assemblée Nationale without a vote.
Lawmakers have a right to call for a motion of no confidence in the government, and if 10 percent of them support it, the motion of no confidence moves to a floor-wide vote. If the majority of the parliament votes no confidence in the government then the president’s cabinet and prime minister are removed and the pension reform bill dies, but the president can remain in power. If the motion fails, the bill is adopted. According to an article from France 24, the first vote, which was brought by a coalition of centrist and leftist Assembly members, gained 278 votes, nine short of the majority needed. A second vote was brought on by the far-right National Rally, formerly the National Front, and only gained 94 votes.
The proposed pension reforms would raise France’s age of retirement from 62 to 64 by 2030, and require the number of years of work to be 43 instead of 42 to receive a full pension. Macron has asserted these reforms are necessary to avoid the pension system running a deficit in the near future, according to Forbes. Cleiss reported that France’s pension system is regarded as one of the most generous in the world. Those eligible to receive full benefits may receive up to half of their salary during the “25 best-earning years,” the years when their salary was highest. Those who choose to work beyond the age of retirement are in return entitled to an increase in their pension rate, meaning they receive an even higher percentage of their former salary. The Associated Press reported that once the reform is instituted, anyone born in 1961, and due to retire in 2023 will be obligated to work an extra three months. Those born in 1968 will have to work until the age of 64 in order to reach the required 43 years of work and become eligible to receive full benefits. People who began working later to complete their studies and/or who took time off to raise children will have to work until the age of 67 in order to receive full retirement benefits. The only exceptions to these new regulations are people who began working between the ages of 14-19 and those with health issues.
The government has maintained that the need for reform is a result of France’s aging population and declining birth rate. “This is a problem that is common across all the various advanced capitalist countries,” Christopher Mitchell, assistant professor of international relations and politics at Mount Holyoke College said. He continued, saying, “this is a problem that’s hitting France earlier because of its earlier start age, and its greater generosity. But it’s a problem that every one of these advanced capitalist states is going to have to wrestle within the coming couple of decades. Essentially, the only way the pension system becomes sustainable without some sort of modification is if you reverse demographic trends. But that’s easier said than done. But otherwise it’s going to require some measure of either cutting benefits or raising taxes, or a mix of both.”
In France, the fallout from the bill has led to blowback from parliament and mass protests. During the first vote on the motion of no confidence, 19 members of the right-wing party Les Républicains broke away from the party and voted in favor of the motion, according to Le Monde. Many left-wing lawmakers have strongly opposed the bill, with some even calling on the prime minister to resign in light of Macron pushing the bill through without a vote. Mass protests have been taking place in France since early 2023, some resulting in clashes between the protesters and police. According to Mitchell, the bill is more than likely to become law. When asked about how likely the bill is to succeed, he stated that “no one has raised areas of questions about whether it is constitutional or not. Just about whether it’s a good idea or not. … it’s going to go through. And at this point, the real question is [what] this does to the future of [the] Macron presidency. And what it is to the future of party politics and France.”