Is France 'on the edge of civil unrest'?

French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne announced last week that President Emmanuel Macron's government would use a constitutional maneuver, Article 49.3, to push through controversial and

deeply unpopular changes to France's retirement system without a full vote in Parliament. Macron's decision to unilaterally raise the retirement age to 64, from 62, among other changes, has

sparked large, sometimes violent protests and enduring strikes by garbage workers, teachers, train drivers, and other labor unions.

Olivier Faure, the leader of France's center-left Socialist Party, accused Macron of deploying a "permanent coup d'état" to shove through the legislation, and far-right National Rally leader

Marine Le Pen called the government's use of Article 49.3 "an extraordinary confession of weakness." But Macron and his government insist the reforms are needed to keep the pension system

solvent and government borrowing acceptably low. "We cannot gamble on the future of our pensions," Borne told jeering lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament. "The

reform is necessary."

The government narrowly survived a series of no-confidence votes Monday, but "the country teeters on the edge of civil unrest," writes BBC News. Police are gearing up for "unpredictable,

spontaneous protests in cities and small towns across France," The Guardian reports. A national day of strike action on Thursday could grind the country to a halt, garbage is piling up in

Paris as trash collectors protest the changes, and at least two oil refineries could be shut down, The Associated Press reports.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career

began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.