French government survives no-confidence votes over pensions

PARIS (AP) — The French government has survived two no-confidence votes in the lower chamber of parliament, proposed by lawmakers who objected to its push to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

National Assembly lawmakers rejected both motions Monday — one from the far-right National Rally and the other, more threatening one from a small centrist group that gathered support across the left.

The first motion, by the centrists, garnered 278 votes, falling short of the 287 needed to pass. The far-right initiative won just 94 votes.

With the failure of both votes Monday, the pension bill is considered adopted.

The tight result in the first vote led some leftist lawmakers to immediately call for Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to resign.

“Only nine votes are missing … to bring both the government down and its reform down,” hard-left lawmaker Mathilde Panot said. “The government is already dead in the eyes of the French, it doesn’t have any legitimacy any more.”

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said her group would file a request for the Constitutional Council to examine the bill Tuesday and possibly censure it.

The no-confidence motions were filed by lawmakers furious that Macron ordered the use of special constitutional powers to force through an unpopular bill raising the retirement age without giving them a vote.

The Senate, dominated by conservatives who back the retirement plan, approved the legislation last week.