French pension reform: Macron’s policy is hanging by a thread

Just nine votes were missing to overthrow the French government. The fact that the controversial pension reform is now accepted is at best a Pyrrhic victory for President Macron and the government.

Emmanuel Macron got his political will. The controversial pension reform has passed Parliament. It is a project that Macron was unable to convince either the population or parliament about and which he therefore pushed through with the parliamentary crowbar of Article 49.3 instead of risking a lost vote.

Losing is part of the political process – but apparently the part that Emmanuel Macron cannot accept, at least in this project. Not with his prestige project, with which he entered his second term and which is to become his political legacy. Macron pays a high political price for this. In more ways than one.

A political revelation

Because the way in which the reform was brought through parliament is now driving even more people onto the streets, making the unions up in arms and could ensure that they will soon really paralyze the country – which has so far been the case, despite the wave of strikes and protests was not the case.

For many, the government’s demonstration of power in front of Parliament is a political oath of disclosure. After all, it confirms the image that many have of Macron and that they keep drawing in conversations: the image of the aloof, unreasonable politician who has nothing but contempt for the population.

Macron’s policy is hanging by a thread

Emmanuel Macron got his political will – also at the price of possibly being politically incapable of maneuvering in the next four years. Nine votes: That’s the thread, so to speak, that kept the government around Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne in office.

It is a more than clear sign that the President and his government will get nothing, absolutely nothing, for free. 19 MPs from the conservative Les Républicains voted in favor of the motion of no confidence, almost a third of the group. They are MPs from the party that the government camp urgently needs in order to have a majority in the Assemblée Nationale. The vote made it abundantly clear that Macron and the government cannot rely on the Républicains when the going gets tough.

The struggle for reform is not over yet

What’s more: the tug-of-war over the reform is not finally off the table. In all likelihood, the Constitutional Council will deal with it. And until he has spoken, the official announcement and implementation are on hold.

When it comes to pensions, Macron has initially gotten his political will. But he has to think about how he wants to enforce it in the next four years. Or can.