The government of French Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne faced a new vote of no confidence, the seventeenth in less than a year, Euractiv reports.
289 votes are needed to pass the vote, but only 239 elected members spoke in favor.
However, this did not dampen the anger of a section of the opposition, which tabled the motion on the grounds that the government was undermining parliamentary democracy by putting pressure on the Speaker of the National Assembly to avoid a vote on repealing the pension reform.
Elizabeth Bourne told lawmakers that "this vote of no confidence [shows] that we really do live in a parliamentary democracy."
- A bill to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 was debated in parliament for six weeks before it became clear that President Macron could not muster enough votes. This forced the government to invoke a constitutional provision known as Article 49.3, which allows legislation to be passed without a vote.
- Macron has made pension reform a top priority of his second term, arguing it is important to avoid a deficit that has been exacerbated by the energy crisis and the cost of the coronavirus. Government plans to raise the retirement age caused mass protests and strikes.