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French President Emmanuel Macron raised the retirement age in France on Thursday, from 62 to 64, without waiting for a legislative vote.
The move sparked widespread outrage in Parliament and across the country as protesters took to the streets to push against the new law, which they have been protesting since January. The bill to raise the retirement age passed the French Senate on Tuesday, but Macron had no guarantee that the bill would pass in the lower chamber on Thursday, the Associated Press reported.
Minutes before the National Assembly was scheduled to take a vote on the bill, the Cabinet decided to invoke the special power outlined in Article 49.3 of the French Constitution, the AP reported. The power allows the government to push through a bill without a vote in the National Assembly, which then has 24 hours to decide whether to file a no-confidence motion against the government.
When Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne attempted to tell the National Assembly the government’s decision, left-wing members started to sing the national anthem to delay her speech, according to AP.
