00:00Talks between trade unions and employers over pension reforms in France collapsed late Monday.
00:05The move once again has placed the government on shaky ground.
00:09The Socialist Party says they will be triggering a vote of no confidence in the government.
00:13Take a listen.
00:15Mr Prime Minister, my question was simple.
00:19Will the Parliament have the final say, including on the retirement age and the balance in our pension system?
00:24You haven't answered it, as you already said no last week.
00:27Mr Prime Minister, keeping one's word is a cornerstone of our democratic regime.
00:33You made commitments you have then not kept on this, as on many other issues.
00:37This forces us, Mr Prime Minister, to table a motion of no confidence in your government.
00:47For more on the story, we can bring in our French politics editor, Marc Perlman.
00:51Marc, good to see you.
00:52Are talks still ongoing to try and salvage the situation?
00:55Indeed, there are.
00:56They were supposed to be finished by the end of last week.
00:59There was an additional session this Monday.
01:03Yesterday night, we heard that there was no deal and that this was the end of the story.
01:09However, at 7 a.m. Paris time, the Prime Minister, François Bayrou, spoke briefly, saying,
01:15this is not the end of it, I will receive today delegations from the unions, both from workers' unions, bosses' unions, to try to forge a last-minute deal.
01:28Why?
01:29Because the Prime Minister said, we were that close from a major deal on reforming the pension system reform.
01:37So he's been receiving those delegations today.
01:40It's still going on.
01:42He will also receive some this evening.
01:45And so this is why those talks are still ongoing, despite what's been going on in Parliament with the Socialists, deciding to push through a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister.
02:00We know since Parliament, the National Assembly was dissolved last year, that the government has had to stitch together this sort of coalition.
02:10It's kept it on shaky ground.
02:12But now, with this disagreement in Parliament, can the government survive?
02:18It can survive.
02:20And there's only one solution, because let's assume this motion of no confidence put forth by the Socialists is supported by the rest of the left, that is, France and Baal, the Greens and the Communists.
02:34It's likely because they believe this attempt at reforming the previous reform is just a smokescreen, that actually the government wants to keep the legal age of retirement at 64, not bringing it back to 62.
02:48So it's not worth discussing about little details that will not change the core of the reform.
02:54The problem is that, let's say, this leftist coalition has a third or so of the votes in the National Assembly.
03:03The Macron bloc, or what's left of it, because we've seen a lot of divisions recently, also has a third.
03:09And obviously, there is a third and key element, the national rally.
03:13And the national rally has already indicated that, although they also are in favor of reviewing this pension reform, they are not inclined to pull the trigger right now, because this is exactly what brought the previous Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, down.
03:32When the left and the far right coalesced, voted in a motion of no confidence, they had the numbers.
03:38Right now, the national rally is saying, we're not sure yet.
03:42Yes, we don't like what's happening, but really, for us, the key will be the vote of the budget, which is scheduled to happen after the summer break in the fall.
03:52So for now, François Bayroux seems to be able to survive.
03:56And this is also why he is attempting this last-minute negotiation to show, probably in the national rally, that he's trying his best to come out with something to show for – the socialists say he should show it before parliament.
04:11The prime minister said, we'll see if we go back before parliament or we issue a decree.
04:16But for now, at least, he seems to have prolonged his stay in Matignon, the prime minister's office, for a few more weeks.
04:25We can't go over weeks because months now is becoming really difficult.
04:30It really counts with this government.
04:32Thank you very much for that, Marc-Marc from the end there.
