(Bloomberg) -- Marine Le Pen’s far-right party is increasing the pressure on Emmanuel Macron’s new government with a public push to try to overturn the French president’s unpopular pension reform.
While the effort by the National Rally is unlikely to succeed since lawmakers on the left aren’t expected to back a proposal from the populist party, it will shine a spotlight on one of the most difficult periods of Macron’s presidency and highlight the cracks in his new administration.
Le Pen’s party will propose a bill on Oct. 31 to gut the core of the pension reform, which raised the minimum retirement age to 64 from 62 and provoked massive protests across the country. National Rally lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy said the point is to put the topic back into the public spotlight and prepare for further amendments in the future.
Macron called a snap election in June that made the National Rally the largest party in the lower house of parliament. Because the new government formed over the weekend has so little support in the legislature, Le Pen is effectively a kingmaker and can topple the administration by joining or filing a no-confidence motion.
The pension bill divided the country as well as the National Assembly. Nineteen Republican lawmakers — the same party as the new prime minister, Michel Barnier — voted in favor of a no-confidence motion in 2023 over the reform that nearly toppled the government.
The pension bill would revive previous retirement conditions. In addition to lowering the minimum age it would also stipulate that people would need to work for at least 42 years to get a full pension, National Rally lawmaker Thomas Menage told reporters on Wednesday.
The National Rally’s other proposals include stricter punishment against those who attack healthcare, education or police staff; requesting the eviction of foreigners who have been convicted for serious offenses; watering down legislation on energy performance for houses; and giving state-owned Electricite de France SA ownership of hydroelectric dams.
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