Macron skips vote to force pension changes through, but faces more protests and a possible vote of no confidence
Unlike the market-led system of the UK,has a pension system prized for what politicians call “solidarity between the generations” – whereby the working population pay mandatory payroll charges to fund those in retirement. All French workers get a state pension.
France has the lowest qualifying age for a state pension among the main European economies and spends a significant amount supporting the system. But the active working population pay high payroll charges and see fair pensions as the bedrock of how society should work. Every French president for the past 40 years has in some way made changes to the retirement laws, usually prompting anger in the polls and demonstrations on the streets.Why did Macron choose to use special powers to force through the changes, instead of a parliamentary vote?
The lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, was poised to vote on Thursday afternoon. But Macron took a surprise, last-minute decision to instead use special constitutional powers to force the plans through without a vote, because he was not certain of the support of enough lawmakers.
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