The French government narrowly survived a vote of no confidence over the controversial pension reforms on Monday. If the motion had been passed, the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne would have had to resign.
In the Assemblée nationale, the French House of Representatives, a total of two motions were submitted for the government to fall over. One of those two had no chance of success, because it became clear in advance that there was too little support for it.
The second was a lot more promising, but just didn’t get enough support. 278 MPs voted in favor, where it took 287 to pass the motion. Normally there are 289, but there are four seats vacant in the 577-seat French House of Representatives.
The government parties do not have a majority in the French House of Commons. The party coalition Ensemble of President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Borne lost many seats in the parliamentary elections last June. The government parties together have 250 seats and the opposition 318.
If the motion is lost, the government of Borne would have to resign. The pension plans would also automatically disappear from the table. The motions were tabled after Borne used a constitutional article to change the pension system without parliamentary approval.
There has been unrest in France for some time because of the government’s plans to reform the pension system. In all parts of the country, people take to the streets to demonstrate against, among other things, the raising of the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.