‘Necessary’ raising of French retirement age to take place by year-end: Macron
FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday (Mar 22) said a deeply unpopular new law that will raise the retirement age is necessary and will enter into force by the end of the year.
Macron said he had “no regrets”, adding that he did, however, want to improve his fraught relationship with the labour unions and involve them more in future reforms. These will include retraining for those in painful jobs.
“Do you think I enjoy doing this (pension) reform? No,” he said. “But there are not a hundred ways to balance the accounts… this reform is necessary.”
The pension bill, which will extend the retirement age by two years to 64, initially gathered huge, peaceful crowds in rallies organised by unions. But after the government decided to skip a vote in parliament last week and pass the bill, spontaneous protests in Paris and elsewhere saw rubbish bins and barricades set ablaze every night amid scuffles with the police.
Protesters on Wednesday also blocked train stations in the southern cities of Nice and Toulouse. This, alongside the rolling strikes that affect oil depots, public transport and rubbish collection, represent the most serious challenge to Macron’s authority since the “Yellow Vest” revolt four years ago.
Labour unions have announced another nationwide day of strikes and demonstrations that will take place on Thursday.
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At a rally in Paris on Tuesday, pensioner Jacques Borensztejn said: “We don’t want this law, and we’ll fight until it is withdrawn.”
Macron said that while he respected the right to peaceful protests, what he called “extreme violence” was not acceptable. “We’ll make sure a life that is as normal as possible can resume in the face of the few that block things,” he said.
Political leaders in the centrist president’s camp said that neither a government reshuffle nor a snap election is on the cards, but rather an attempt to regain the initiative with measures to better involve citizens and unions in decision-making.
The opposition has called for Macron to fire Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who has been at the forefront of the pension reform. He instead backed her, and said that he had tasked her with further widening the majority.
“(Borne) has my trust to lead this government team,” he said. He said he believes she can “build a legislative program to have “fewer laws, shorter, clearer texts”, and “continue to widen this majority as much as it can”.
Macron’s camp lost its majority in the lower house of parliament in last year’s elections.
Polls show a wide majority of French people are opposed to the pension legislation, as well as the government’s decision to push the bill through parliament last week without a vote.
But Macron said he would stand firm. “Between the short-term polls and the general interest of the country, I choose the general interest… we will not tolerate any misbehaviour,” he said.
“We have no right to standstill or immobility.” REUTERS
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