Leader of France's The Republicans Party Says Democracy in Country Experiencing Crisis

PARIS (Sputnik) - The leader of the French liberal-conservative party The Republicans, Eric Ciotti, said on Thursday that the adoption of the pension reform bill without a vote in parliament indicates a crisis of democracy in the country, however, he refused to support a vote of no confidence in the government.

Earlier in the day, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said that the French government adopted a law on raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 years without a vote in the parliament in accordance with Article 49.3 of the constitution to avoid "many hours of debate" on the reform.

"The application of Article 49.3 is the failure of long-standing policy and method, which failed to win the majority support. This reveals a deep political crisis in our institutions, a crisis that the French are experiencing against a backdrop of ever-increasing challenges. This is the crisis of our democracy," he said on air on the French broadcaster following Borne’s announcement.

Ciotti added that while the government had failed to deliver on the important pension reform, his party would not support a vote of no confidence to avoid "more chaos."

"We don't want to create more chaos, so during the group meeting we decided not to support any vote of no confidence. The crisis situation in our country, which we find ourselves in, will not endure a fatal blow to our democracy and our institutions," he said.

Another member of the Republicans, Aurelien Pradie, urged French President Emmanuel Macron to start dialogue with those opposed to the reform.

"The demonstration of power deepens the split in the country. The authorities have made a gigantic democratic mistake, and it will leave traces. We must unite, not fragment the state. If the government had listened to the lawmakers and the people, we would not have been in this situation. Macron cannot remain just a spectator in this situation," he said on air on the broadcaster.

The reform has caused a massive backlash in French society. There have already been seven general strikes and hundreds of demonstrations in France within the last two months, with over 1mln people taking part in most of them. During the protests, clashes often broke out between the police and protesters.