French populists may join forces to overturn pension reforms

RN and LFI politicians are usually sworn enemies, but now they may have found common ground. We are talking about Macron’s pension reform, which the president pushed through last year without parliamentary approval.

Through the reform, Macron raised the retirement age from 62 to 64. This reform was extremely unpopular among the masses and large-scale protests broke out.

The left-wing populists had already promised during their campaign to cancel the pension reform. On Tuesday, the LFI also submitted a draft for this purpose. Laurent Jacobelli, spokesman for the right-wing populists, then announced that the RN would vote to repeal the reform. According to Politico, the Republicans had also promised during their campaign to cancel the reform, and Jacobelli said the party would now fulfill its election promise.

Left-wing populist deputy Mathilde Pano said she was sure the bill to repeal the pension reform would pass parliament. According to him, there was already a majority in favor of repealing the reform during the last parliament, but now this majority has increased.

The French government decided last year to go ahead with pension reforms without parliamentary approval. At the time, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who was appointed by Macron, used a constitutional option called Article 49/3. This allowed the government to push the law through without a vote in the lower house.

Observers then estimated that the tension over pension reform could have a broader impact on French politics, including increasing support for populists. Macron’s party achieved a worse result than ever in the last parliamentary election, and the parliament is now fragmented, with no party having an absolute majority.