France's constitutional court greenlights Macron's pension plan
3 Min Read
The next step will involve Macron signing the bill into law, but historians believe this will mark one of France's darkest chapters.
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People walk by burning garbage cans during a protest, Friday, April 14, 2023, in Paris (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
France's constitutional court approved on Friday French President Emmanuel Macron's highly unpopular pension reforms which are intended to raise the age of retirement from 62 to 64.
The next step will involve Macron signing the bill into law, but historians believe this will mark one of France's darkest chapters.
Some prominent historians warned that if Macron does not restore his legitimacy, "the time of revolutions could come back, or else there will be an accumulation of toxic disaffection which will open the way for far-right populism," Pierre Rosanvallon told Liberation newspaper.
Political historian Jean Garrigues also said that the way by which the reform was implemented discredited "all of our institutional foundations, all of our political figures."
"The link between our citizens and their national representatives has been stretched further in this crisis, as it was during the Yellow Vests," Garrigues wrote in Le Monde newspaper, referring to the protests.
Popular discontent has focused mainly on the government's decision to resort to Article 49.3 to force through the legislation without a parliamentary vote.
Read more: Protesters flood France a day ahead of final decision on pension plan
Last year, Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne resorted to Article 49.3 ten times to push the 2023 budget bill through the lower house of parliament.
The legal clause allowed Borne to pass the bill without lawmakers’ approval and justified her decision on the basis that her cabinet was working on a busy schedule.
The sometimes violent protests peaked at 1.28 million people on March 7, according to official statistics, the biggest in a generation.
"This protest movement will leave a mark in the history our country, through its size and the new people who have joined in," the leader of the moderate CFDT union, Laurent Berger, told reporters, as he reiterated the belief that France was facing a "democratic crisis."
A poll published on March 7 showed that more than 60% of the French believe that President Macron has become more authoritarian since taking office in 2017.
The poll, which ViaVoice conducted for the Liberation newspaper, also revealed that 72% of participants believe Macron has done less to bring people together than he did at the start of his first term, and over 60% have doubts about his capacity to address the nation's economic problems. According to 55% of respondents, Macron's overall professional performance declined.
Only 15% of French believe Macron is relatable to regular people, a drop of 11 percentage points from September 2021.
It is worth noting that the survey was carried out between March 31 and April 4.
Read more: 'Yellow Vests' against French arms supply to Ukraine amid protests
