The far right National Rally party has tabled a motion of no confidence in the French government after it used clause 49.3 of the constitution to force through controversial pension reforms in parliament on Thursday.
The RN’s deputies tabled the vote in the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament on Friday afternoon.
“And we will vote on all motions of censure presented,” said MP Laure Lavalette.
“What matters is that this iniquitous reform project falls,” insists Ms. Lavalette.
In its motion of censure, the group of 88 RN deputies castigates an “unfair and unnecessary reform”.
“While the French massively demonstrate their opposition to this reform, the national representation has not, at any time, been able to vote on this text, which is, despite the legality of the process, a serious breach of democratic principles,” it denounces.
French president Emmanuel Macron invoked the constitutional clause after the upper house had passed his bill to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64, but before the vote was put to the National Assembly.
The proposed legislation has triggered widespread strikes and protests across France in recent months.
Earlier, the deputies of the independent group LIOT filed a “transparent” motion of censure of the government, co-signed by elected officials of the Nupes, the left-wing alliance in the assembly.
To bring down the government, a motion of censure would need to gather an absolute majority in the National Assembly, or 287 votes.
