Another day of protest demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform will take place today (Tuesday) in France, amid reports that air traffic to and from the country is also expected to suffer disruptions, as well as high-speed train traffic throughout France. The government railway company SNCF announced that only half of the normal train traffic will take place today, and at airports in recent days the airlines have asked to reduce the number of flights and warned of disruptions.
● Gafni tried to silence the professionals. The governor did not remain liable Interpretation
● The small details of big inflation: what might push the Fed to continue raising interest rates
During the day, more than a million workers and demonstrators are expected to take to the streets in major cities in France, in protest of the promotion of the reform announced by Macron’s government at the beginning of the year, which includes a gradual increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64 in several steps, until the year 2030.
All the trade unions joined together to oppose the reform, and so far there have been two “days of rage” in which more than a million people demonstrated against the plan. Also on Saturday, a mass demonstration is planned, which includes the abandonment of the workplaces and protest demonstrations in the streets. This is the first time in 12 years that the major trade unions in France have banded together against a government plan.
Yesterday the debates in the French Parliament began regarding the planned reform. French President Emmanuel Macron promised to pass it already in his first term, but in light of the strong opposition to it, and due to the Corona epidemic, he postponed his plans. In his second and current term, his political situation is more precarious, and his party lost its majority in parliament, so it is forced to compromise on the details of the reform with the center-right “Republicans” party, which set several conditions for the government to “soften” it. Therefore, the retirement age will be “only” at 64, instead of 65, and the move will be made gradually and with a massive increase in pensions and a change in the manner of entitlement to them. The latest change announced by the Prime Minister is to allow retirement at the age of 63 for those who started working between the ages of 20 and 21.
The planned strike days have so far included the disruption of public transport in Paris, and now some of the workers at France’s ski resorts are promising to strike and disrupt work as well, which threatens the winter holidays of the French. “Our plan is to show legislators the need to consider citizens by taking to the streets,” one of the union leaders told French television. The pension issue and reform are now at the top of the agenda in the country. The strikes registered there and the disruptions are the largest in more than a decade, in terms of the number of demonstrators.
Macron: “We French must work harder”
Macron justified the reform by the need to continue to maintain the French pension in its current form, in which the workers finance the allowances for those who have retired, and said that raising the retirement age is financially necessary. “We French must work harder,” Macron said.
According to economists, France is already among the countries that spend the largest share of its GDP on pensions (about 15%, compared to the European average of 12.5%). The country’s pension advisory council said that France’s current pension model will be negative in the next decade , and that it threatens to deepen the national debt. The council said that the number of workers per pensioner in the country has already dropped from 2.1 in 2000 to 1.7 in 2020. According to forecasts, the rate will be only 1.2 in 2070.