http://dx.doi.org/10.17176/20230327-195238-0 https://verfassungsblog.de/constitutional-perhaps-democratic-not-so-much/ Constitutional? Perhaps. Democratic? Not so much - On the French Government's Maneuver to Pass the Law on Retirement Bottini, Eleonora eng 2023-03-27 electronic resource text/html ddc:342 Article 49.3 democracy Emmanuel Macron France Pension Reform Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog--2366-7044 CC BY-SA 4.0 The adoption of the Law on Retirement without a majority in the National Assembly has caused a huge uproar in France. The use by the executive of an article or two of the Constitution, as well as the combination thereof, is deemed constitutional until a competent organ says otherwise. And the only one who could, the Constitutional Council, will probably not say otherwise. But even if something is constitutional, that does not make it democratic. A look into the justifications given by the head of State and the head of Government stirs reflection on the relationship between the constitutional and democratic character of the proceedings.