First Obama. Now Hollande. The temptation, when you are being thwarted by legislators, to rule by executive authority is catching. The Wall Street Journal, which has not exactly applauded the US president's bypassing of Congress, says "kudos" to Hollande – but then it is the left, notably several dozen dissidents in his own party, the French president is outsmarting.
At Hollande's urging, Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday invoked Article 49.3 of the constitution, a rarely used provision which exceptionally allows the government to pass measures without parliamentary permission. The controversial Bill was automatically passed when the government on Thursday defeated a no-confidence vote.
Although emphasising the government’s parliamentary weakness, the passage of the “Macron Law” – named after Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron – will please EU allies currently most keen to keep Greece in line – the French Bill is the price being paid by Paris for an EU willingness to slightly ease France’s budget deficit reduction programme. Hollande and predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy have been widely criticised internationally for failing to undertake structural reform of the stagnant economy.
The law which has seen nearly 200 hours of debate in parliament and more than 1,000 amendments, includes a broad package of measures sought by business, from rules to broaden trading hours, to ease dismissal of workers, to deregulating some bus services and removing protective practices in professions like lawyers and pharmacists. Although the measures have 60 per cent support in recent polls, there has been strong trade union opposition – three unions have called a nationwide strike on April 9th against the law and other austerity measures.
The bill comes on top of tax cuts worth as much as €40 billion by 2017 to help companies reduce labour costs, and at a time when polls show Hollande is seeing a significant surge in his rock-bottom popularity. Further reforms are coming which will probably further annoy his party base but may help win over the middle ground.