French prime minister to meet opposition amid pension crisis
The prime minister says her aim is to “bring calm” to France after violent protests against pension reform plans.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has said she plans to meet with opposition leaders and trade unions after weeks of protests against pension reforms.
Borne’s statement on Sunday came as protests against the pension scheme turned violent after the government pushed legislation through without a final parliamentary vote.
President Emmanuel Macron has ruled out scrapping or delaying the legislation raising the retirement age by two years and has instructed his prime minister to find new support in parliament after the government failed to get enough votes for the bill to find.
Borne will meet with political party leaders and also aims to resume dialogue with unions on labor issues, her office said, without mentioning the pension bill.
The prime minister added in an interview with AFP news agency that the meetings with opposition and trade union leaders would take place in the week of April 3.
“We need to find the right path… We need to calm down,” she told the agency.
But she also said the pension reform will go ahead, subject to approval by the Constitutional Council, which will rule on the constitutionality of the legislation.
Borne used Article 49.3 of the constitution to push the draft legislation through the National Assembly without a vote when it became clear that the government was unsure whether it had the required votes.
This latest appeal of the measure led to two no-confidence votes, one of which outlasted the government by just nine votes – and sparked a furious backlash in the streets.
The protest movement has become the main domestic crisis of Macron’s second mandate, with regular clashes between police and protesters in Paris and other cities since the reform was implemented earlier this month.
Borne, who became prime minister in May last year, has now used the 49.3 facility 11 times. But she told AFP on Sunday that she would not use it outside of financial matters from now on.
Asked about her priorities for the coming weeks, she said: “I have two objectives: to bring calm to the country in the face of these tensions, and to provide more answers to the expectations of the French people.”
It is unclear whether the government’s attempt to draw a line under the pension crisis will appease a majority of the public hostile to the reform and protesters annoyed by the passing of the legislation without a final vote.
Unions have scheduled a 10th day of nationwide protests against the pension bill on Tuesday, following the most violent clashes yet with police on an earlier day of action last Thursday.
The head of the CFDT union, Laurent Berger, last week suggested that Macron pause the law for six months to seek a possible compromise.