Uncommon Decency

"Is it a revolt? No sire, it's a revolution". While this famous exchange is attributed to Louis the XVIth and the Duke de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, odds are that French President Macron has had similar conversations with his aides in the past few weeks. In an attempt to balance the books of France's pensions regime, Macron’s party—Renaissance—filed a bill to increase the legal retirement age from 62 to 64. Without a formal majority in Parliament, he needed the support of the center right, but given the overwhelming opposition to the bill across the electorate, Macron decided to use a constitutional trump card to force through the bill without a vote. This triggered a no confidence vote which was only 9 votes short of toppling Macron's PM, Élisabeth Borne, and her government. In the meantime, millions have taken to the streets or went on strike to oppose the bill. While these have been largely peaceful, some have turned violent, with brutal street fights breaking out between police officers and antifa groups. This week, we try to take stock of this chaos with Nicholas Vinocur from POLITICO and Cole Strangler, a Paris-based freelancer. Bear in mind we won’t be releasing an episode next week, and expect us to be back the week after that. Enjoy your Easter break!

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