Macron Holds Broad Consultations After Government Survives

French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the French in a televised interview today amid social and political tensions following the adoption of a pension reform law. Macron has held consultations with many parties as he hosted Prime Minister Elisabeth Born, whose government narrowly escaped a no-confidence memorandum on Monday. He also met with the chairmen of the Assembly and the Senate at lunch, on the condition that he meet with the deputies of the presidential camp in the evening. And today at 13:00, the President of France will give a live interview to the channels “TF1” and France 2 about the social and political tensions that have arisen as a result of the reform of the pension system, reports Elysee. On Monday evening, the prime minister, who was invited to the Élysée Palace along with a number of members of the government and majority leaders, said: “I am determined to continue to achieve the transformation necessary for our country.” Macron will meet with the chairmen of the Assembly and the Senate for lunch, and in the evening he will meet with the deputies of the presidential camp. And throughout the day, the anger continued with more gatherings, sit-ins, road closures, traffic disruptions, and even stations running out of fuel for the first time since demand movements began. Building on Article 49.3 of the constitution, which allows a bill to be passed without a vote if a no-confidence vote fails to topple the government, a reform raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 was formally approved in parliament on Monday. . However, this parliamentary conclusion, which took place at a closer-than-expected vote (19 deputies out of 61 voted no confidence), on the contrary, did not help ease the pressure on the government. National Assembly leader Marine Le Pen said Elizabeth Bourne “must go” or “the president should fire her” and several voices on the left called for her resignation. “The fight continues,” chanted all the leaders of the new coalition of the Ecological and Social People’s Union. They rely on appeals submitted to the Constitutional Council and have submitted a request for a referendum on a joint initiative, the adoption of which the Constitutional Council should consider. Ahead of that, Elizabeth Bourne said on Monday evening she would submit a request “directly” to the Constitutional Council to review the text “as soon as possible.” Reform opponents are also calling for continued street mobilization. On Monday night, demonstrators overturned and burned garbage cans, erected barricades and threw projectiles at police during spontaneous protests across France. These scenes of tension were repeated in many major cities such as Lyon, Nantes, Rennes and even in Strasbourg, where, according to the municipality, about two thousand people demonstrated. In Dungis (west), security forces intervened on Monday night to disperse strikers who had occupied an oil port for a week, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.