Protestors took to the streets for the second time in two weeks against President Emmanuel Macron’s pensions reform, putting the government’s stability at risk as it intends to push through the bill, come what may.
According to the Interior Ministry’s data, about 1.272 million people took to the streets across the country, while unions say the number was closer to 2.8 million.
The country has been experiencing social upheaval ever since French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne presented the pension reform on 10 January. Raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 crystallised tensions, bringing all trade unions together to fight against it.
Borne told national public radio on Sunday that raising the age bar would be “non-negotiable” as the bill makes its way to parliament. The opposition condemned the government’s ‘provocation’ and successfully rallied in the streets for the second round of national protests on Tuesday.
A stark 75-100% of TotalEnergies’ oil refineries and depot workers did not show up to work today. Energy unions announced they would ‘freeze’ a number of refineries over the course of next week, while train strikes are already expected on 7-8 February.
“This is the start of austerity politics all over again – not just in France but across Europe”, Socialist party official Jean-Philippe Daviaud told EURACTIV France at the protest.
As demographic imbalances hit all European Member States, and the age pyramid is skewed towards the older generations, pensions deficits are running deeper than ever. “They make the middle-class pay, again and again,” Daviaud added.
Make the pensioners solve the pensions crisis
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While the public pension reform dominates French political debate, demographic changes will eventually push all EU countries to consider how they finance their pensions systems. …
A government’s impact assessment, leaked last week in Les Echos, also found the reform would hit women the hardest. On average, women born in the early 1970s would be required to work an extra nine months, compared to five for their male counterparts – adding fuel to protestors’ claims that the reform is unjust.
On Monday, Macron showed he was ready to push through this “indispensable” reform and has given no sign he is ready to water down his proposal.
So far, however, whether he has the means to win a majority vote is far from certain. The vote numbers are still lacking, according to the independent vote counting think tank Datapolitics.
The Conservative Les Républicains party, whose ad hoc political alliance is openly encouraged by Borne, are enjoying the full powers of being kingmakers and has come with a set of demands Macron’s Renaissance party is so far reluctant to give in on.
The left NUPES coalition locked in over 6,000 amendments with the intention to “force the government to explain themselves”, according to the lead MP on the issue for the left, Hadrien Clouet.
Finally, Macron’s party, which secured a relative majority at the last legislative elections, is showing signs of hesitation. Several MPs have been outspoken against the “inequities” the reform would create, Stella Dupont MP said on Monday. While all rule out voting against the bill for the time being, how Macron’s party navigates the next few days will be subject to much scrutiny.
The reform is presented as a public budgeting tool to control a growing deficit: according to the French pensions analysis body, an optimistic 1.3% economic growth long term would see the pensions deficit reach 0.5% of GDP by 2032, before slowly closing by 2043.
Two new protests were announced for 7 and 11 February.
(Theo Bourgery-Gonse | EURACTIV.fr)
French pension reform set to test government stability
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne presented the details of a long-awaited pension reform on Tuesday, revealing an increase in the legal retirement age despite trade union pushback that will test government stability over the coming weeks.
Pension reform has been the source …
Source: euractiv.com
