France's Macron to force through pension reform with no vote

The French government has been forced to push through unpopular pension reforms, to avoid a knife-edge vote in the National Assembly.

Although the plan to raise the pension age from 62 to 64 passed the upper house on Thursday, ministers realised they might not win the support of MPs.

Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne was jeered as she invoked article 49:3 of the constitution.

That power enables the government to avoid a vote in the Assembly.

"We cannot bet on the future of our pensions and this reform is necessary," the prime minister told a rowdy session of the lower house.

As she took the stand, left-wing MPs sang the national anthem La Marseillaise while holding placards that read "No to 64".

The session was briefly suspended and when she began to speak she was interrupted with cries of "Resign, Resign!"

Forcing the bill through may be the least bad option for the government, but it's also fraught with risk. It exposes the government to a censure motion and risks enflaming the country.

The far-right National Rally immediately called a confidence vote, while Marine Le Pen, who challenged Mr Macron for the presidency, said the government's move was a recognition of his personal failure.

"It's his reform, he's the one who proposed it and defended it during his campaign," she added.

The pension reforms have prompted weeks of protests and strikes across France. They do not just raise the retirement age by two years, but also require an additional year of contributions to the national pension scheme.

As the drama unfolded inside the Assembly, a group of some 1,500 mainly young protesters rallied a short distance away at Place de la Concorde, chanting "general strike".

Even though President Emmanuel Macron was re-elected last year on a platform of retirement reforms, his ruling coalition has no majority in the Assembly and would have needed support from the Republicans party.

Officials from his Renaissance party spent the morning desperately whipping members into line in a bid to get their bill over the line. They knew some of their MPs could vote against or abstain, faced with the evident unpopularity of the bill.

President Macron even suggested on the eve of the vote that he could dissolve the Assembly and call early elections. Maybe it was a bluff, or maybe it wasn't.

He began Thursday afternoon closeted with the prime minister and other key figures at the Élysée Palace, counting the yes and the no votes. Minutes before the Assembly was due to convene, sources told French media that Ms Borne would go ahead without a vote.

The unions, which have already masterminded eight days of protests across France, earlier appealed to MPs to reject the reforms. "Seventy per cent of the population and 94% of workers are opposed to this project," said François Hommeril of the CFE-CGC.

Simon Duteil of the Solidaires union complained that the government's decision to force the law through was a "100% denial of democracy".

Another union leader, Laurent Berger of the CFDT, made clear that there would be further protests.

Leading Republicans figure Olivier Marleix said his party regretted that the Assembly could not have a vote on a reform that affected all of France.

Earlier, police moved in to clear a waste depot in Paris after police chief Laurent Nuñez told Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo that striking bin workers would be forced back to work under a government threat of jail or a large fine.

Since 5 March, piles of bin-bags have built up in many districts of Paris and several other cities, with some 7,600 tonnes uncollected by Thursday.

Refuse collectors currently work until they are 57, because of difficult working conditions. Under the reforms, they would have to continue until they are 59.