The 30-year battle to reform France’s pension system
FRANCE is bracing for further mass protests Tuesday against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the legal retirement age from 62 to 64.
Union leaders have vowed to bring France to a standstill on the sixth day of nationwide demonstrations against the reform since January, two of which drew million-plus crowds, according to police figures.
AFP looks back at the three-decade battle by governments of both the left and right to streamline one of Europe’s most generous pension systems.
1993: First reform
In 1993, the centre-right government of prime minister Edouard Balladur increases the number of years of work necessary for a full private-sector pension to 40 from 37.5.
There is little resistance to the plan, which skirts the more sensitive issue of public-sector pensions.
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1995: Workers’ revolt
In November 1995, France grinds to a halt over centre-right prime minister Alain Juppe’s attempts to reform public-sector pensions, mainly by requiring 40 years of work, as in the private sector.
Trade unions call a general strike that cripples train and metro services for three weeks. The public sides massively with the strikers, forcing the government into a climbdown.
2003: Mass protests
Eight years later, more than a million people demonstrate when centre-right prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin proposes to make state employees work for 40 years for a full pension, and to shift everyone progressively to 42 years.
Raffarin refuses to back down, and after weeks of demonstrations and strikes, the bill passes parliament.
2007: Sarkozy does deal
Right-wing president Nicolas Sarkozy also takes on public-sector unions, vowing to scrap the more advantageous pension schemes enjoyed by civil servants and other public workers.
Train drivers go on strike but eventually agree to work the same number of years as everyone else after winning concessions on how their pensions are calculated.
2010: From 60 to 62 years
Sarkozy runs into much greater opposition three years later when he moves to raise the legal retirement age from 60 to 62.
France’s oil refineries are blockaded during two months of rolling strikes and protests, but the resistance peters out after parliament adopts the bill.
2014: 43 years of contributions
France’s Socialists also tackle the pensions deficit after Francois Hollande comes to power, gradually increasing the number of years of contributions required for a full pension to 43.
2019: Longest-ever rail strike
Macron’s first attempt to deliver on his campaign promise to put the pension system on sound financial footing sparks the longest strike in the history of the national rail operator, SNCF.
He proposes to replace dozens of separate regimes with a single points-based system that requires most people to work longer.
The reform, which divides unions, is put on ice during the Covid-19 pandemic.
2023: New showdown with Macron
After winning a second term in 2022 Macron breathes new life into his reform, with a bold new plan to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64.
This time around, moderate and hardline unions stand united against the proposals, which bring 1.27 million people onto the streets on January 31, according to official estimates.
The police say Tuesday’s show of force – the sixth since mid-January – could draw even bigger numbers. AFP
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