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French government survives no-confidence votes over pension reform

The French government survived two no-confidence motions in parliament on Monday evening over its decision to impose controversial pension reform without a vote in the National Assembly - and protests once again broke out in several French cities.

Published: 20 March 2023 18:52 CET
Updated: 20 March 2023 22:15 CET
French government survives no-confidence votes over pension reform
A burning pile of rubbish in front of Opera Garnier during a demonstration in Paris on Monday evening. Photo: Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

A multi-party vote of no-confidence in French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne’s government was defeated by just nine votes on Monday evening.

The motion  brought by the centrist Liot coalition garnered 278 votes in the 577-seat National Assembly, just nine short of the necessary 287 MPs needed to topple the government.

READ ALSO What does the no-confidence vote mean for Macron and for France?

Following that first vote, France’s Assemblée Nationale voted on a second no-confidence motion brought by the far-right National Rally (RN) seen as less dangerous for the government.

Unlike the first motion the second brought by the far-right party was overwhelmingly rejected by parliament.

Both motions of no-confidence were sparked by the decision of the government to use Article 49.3 of the constitution to force through highly controversial reforms of the pension system without a vote in the lower house, the Assemblée Nationale.

The decision sparked a weekend of protests – some violent – across France.

Immediately after the vote, MPs from the leftist Nupes alliance brandished signs saying ‘RIP’ and ‘gather in the streets’.

The no-confidence vote was tabled by the small parliamentary group known as Liot, largely composed of MPs from France’s overseas territories and Corsica and attracted support from both the Leftist group in parliament and the far-right Rassemblement National.

However with both Macron’s centrist alliance Ensemble and some of the centre-right Les Républicains not supporting the motion, it failed to gather the necessary votes – although with a margin of only none votes it is the closest shave yet for Macron’s party, which does not have an overall majority in parliament.

Borne had signalled before the vote that will meet the leaders of all the parliamentary groups on Monday evening.

After the news of the vote broke, demonstrations began in several towns and cities around France.

At least 70 people were arrested in Paris, with bins and street furniture set on fire in several areas.

Shortly after the vote, a protest of several hundred people began in the Place Vauban, calling for Emmanuel Macron’s resignation.

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JOHN LICHFIELD

OPINION: There is no chance of a sensible debate on the French government’s immigration bill

Immigration - like pensions - is a subject which in France anaesthetises balance and common-sense, writes John Lichfield, which explains why the government's new immigration bill is becoming virtually the new definition of a mountain out of a molehill.

Published: 30 May 2023 14:10 CEST
OPINION: There is no chance of a sensible debate on the French government's immigration bill

France has changed its migration law 29 times in the last 40 years. There has been no significant change since 2018. A spasm of tinkering is evidently overdue.

The government thinks so – or at least some of the time. It proposed a new migration law last year. Since then, the draft law has frequently been delayed.

It was sawn in half and then sown back together again. There have been seven changes of direction in nine months.

Language tests and easier expulsion: The latest on France’s new immigration law

President Emmanuel Macron, against the wishes of his Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, has now decided to push forward rapidly with the new legislation. He wants to prove that, despite the national nervous breakdown over pension reform, despite the loss of his parliamentary majority, his government can still advance its domestic agenda.

Hear John and the team at The Local discussing the immigration bill, and its political fallout, in the latest episode of Talking France. Listen here or on the link below

Is there an urgent need for change? Yes and no. Mostly no.

Despite the nonsense spouted by the Far Right and the Right, France is not being “swamped” by migrants. Net migration is under 200,000 people a year. That figures has increased only slightly over the last decade.

Just over one in ten French residents were born in other countries – 30 percent of them within the European Union – compared to one in 20 in 1947. When asked which problems concern them the most, French people put migration 12th on their list – long after inflation, security, education, housing and health.

On the other hand, France does have a problem enforcing its migration rules.

A Paris schoolgirl was murdered last October by a woman who had been ordered to leave the country but was never removed. Most of the 234 African and middle eastern boat people delivered to Toulon in November by the Ocean Viking humanitarian vessel vanished before they could be processed by the French system.

Few of the illegal migrants or failed asylum seekers expelled from France actually leave the country. The government has little way of knowing whether the 120,000 people each year who are served with expulsion orders or OQTF’s (obligations de quitter le territoire français) have left or not.

READ ALSO OQTF: What is the notice to quit and can you appeal?

The proposed new migration law tries to address this issue. It would reduce from 12 to four the number of legal arguments that can be put forward to delay or cancel an expulsion order.

Everyone served with an OQRF would be inscribed on a computer file. It would create a new network of regional centres to process asylum requests.

The original bill was framed to appeal to both Right and Left – which made it sensibly balanced or wishy-washy Macronist, depending on your political persuasion. It would allow some illegal migrants and unprocessed asylum-seekers to contribute to the French economy by taking jobs.

Those eligible would include illegal migrants and asylum seekers who have been present in France for three years. They would be permitted to seek work permits in trades where labour is scarce – especially the restaurant and construction industries.

Originally, Macron and his interior minister Gérald Darmanin hoped that the bill would attract support from both the moderate left and the centre-right. The ill-feeling generated by the pension dispute now means that no left-wing support is conceivable.

All therefore depends on the 62 centre-right Les Républicains deputies who hold the balance of power in the National Assembly. They split on pension reform. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne warned Macron last month that they were equally divided and unreliable on the migration bill.

The President agreed to delay the debate until the autumn and then changed his mind. He needed – or wanted – an early parliamentary success on a contentious issue to prove that he was still able to govern, and reform, the country.

That was a mistake.

The leaders of Les Républicains (LR) have rejected the Macron migration bill. They have ruled out all possibility of voting to give some illegal migrants work-permits.

They have announced – but not yet published – an immigration bill of their own which steals the ideas of, inter alia, Marine Le Pen, Eric Zemmour, Donald Trump and the British Conservative government.

Amongst other things, they want to abolish the 25-years-old rights rights of illegal migrants to seek free health care in France (which takes just 0.5 percent of health spending). And they want to stop the “deep state” (ie French and European officials and judges) from protecting migrant rights.

The once pro-European centre-right party says that it wants a referendum on constitutional change to allow France to “take back control” and disobey EU laws when its national interests are threatened. This is a photocopy of Marine Le Pen’s idea which amounts to an unworkable Frexit-in-all-but-name.

None of this has a remote chance of being agreed while Macron is President. It is a) declaration that the failing LR intends to lurch to the hard right before the next presidential election b) a suicide note by what remains of the once broad Gaullist movement.

After nailing their colours to this illiberal mast, there is no chance that Les Républicains will provide the 40 or so votes needed for the Macron migration bill to pass in its present form. Darmanin, the interior minister, is looking for some form of compromise but cannot go too far without alienating parts of Macron’s own centrist alliance.

The sensible idea of jobs-for-deserving-migrants may be split from the bill (again) and carried out regionally by administrative order. The government may offer some small restrictions on health care for illegal migrants and asylum seekers.

Will that bring the LR aboard? I doubt it.

Will the government risk another explosion by using its special powers to impose the law under Article 49.3 of the Constitution? I doubt it.

Will Macron back down and withdraw the bill (again)? I doubt it.

Will immigration replace pensions as the dominant political psycho-drama? I doubt it.

There may have been case for more tinkering with migration law but this was not the time to insist on it. Macron should have concentrated his efforts on more consensual reforms like his seven-year increase in defence spending and the proposed “green” industry law.

Immigration, like pensions, is a subject which anaesthetises balance and practical common-sense.

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