electric climate in France before the examination of the motions of censure on Monday
Strike movements, clashes between demonstrators and the police, stoning of the office of the president of the Les Républicains party… the tension is palpable in France before the examination, on Monday, of the motions of censure tabled against the government after its recourse to 49.3 to pass the unpopular pension reform without a vote.
The tension has increased in intensity this weekend in France, in the street as in political expressions, with the approach of the examination, Monday March 20, of the motions of censure tabled after the recourse by the government to the article 49.3 of the Constitution to have the pension reform adopted without a vote.
Clashes with police erupted in Paris on Saturday for the third straight night as thousands marched across the rest of France. In total, the police carried out 169 arrests in France, including 122 in the capital, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, the office of the president of the Republicans, Éric Ciotti, was also vandalized, he announced on Twitter. On the facade, the slogan “The motion or the pavement” has been drawn.
Last night my permanence was stoned.
The thugs who did this want to violently pressure my vote on Monday.
I will never yield to the new disciples of Terror. pic.twitter.com/8sgs3q85HF
— Eric Ciotti (@ECiotti) March 19, 2023
“The thugs who did this want to use violence to pressure my vote on Monday,” said Eric Ciotti on Twitter, adding that he would not give in to terror.
“Moment of Truth”
Asked about the possible outcome of Monday’s votes in the National Assembly, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, replied in Le Parisien: “I think that there will not be a majority to bring down the government. But it will be a moment of truth.” “Is the pension reform worth, yes or no, the fall of the government and the political disorder? The answer is clearly no”, he added.
For Manuel Bompard, coordinator of France insoumise, a change of government is on the contrary desirable. “I am not hiding, this government is carrying out a policy which, in my opinion, is not legitimate, is not in the majority in the population”, he said on Europe 1. “When I file with my colleagues a motion of censure, it is to bring down this reform but it is also to bring down this government.
>> To read: Motion of censure, referendum, dissolution… After 49-3, what follow-up to the pension reform ?
The coming week will also be marked by a new ninth day of strikes and demonstrations, Thursday, at the call of the inter-union, and by the continuation of the movement in the refineries with, at stake, the question of an impact possible on the supply of service stations.
A spokesman for TotalEnergies told Reuters that 34% of the group’s refinery and depot operational staff in France were on strike on Sunday morning.
With Reuters
France 24
