Protesters outraged as Macron forces through retirement age hike

• When Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne invoked the constitutional power allowing the measure to proceed without a vote, opposition members drowned her out and sang the national anthem.
• Macron’s move is risky because the constitutional provision allows opposition parties to immediately table a no-confidence motion in the government. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has already promised to do so.
• “Success would annul the pension reform, prompt Ms Borne’s resignation, and probably (though not automatically) force Mr Macron to dissolve parliament and hold fresh parliamentary elections, less than a year into the current National Assembly’s five-year term,” the Economist notes.

What to watch: The unions aren’t giving up. Trash has already been piling up on the streets of Paris due to the strikes, and the mess doesn’t seem to be over.