New protests in France against the pension reform

2023-06-06 17:24:00

Protests in France against the pension reform. Photo: AFP.

France lives a new day of protests against the pension reformtwo days after a last attempt to repeal it and almost three months after the president, Emmanuel Macron, approved it by decree.

“This is not the last cartridge,” but it could be “one of the last days of mobilization,” the leader of the CFDT union, Laurent Berger, told Europe 1 radio station on Tuesday.

In March, Marcron invoked article 49.3 of the French Constitutionwhich allows the government to approve a law without the need for a vote, to adopt the reform that was going to be rejected by the deputies and that delays the retirement age from 62 to 64 years by 2030 and advances the obligation to contribute to 2027 43 years (and not 42) to collect a full retirement.

Despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of people, summoned by the unions, protested against this reform since January, the president promulgated it in April

Despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of people, summoned by the unions, protested against this reform since January, the president promulgated it in April with the intention that it would enter into force in September.

But the unions do not give up and, with the hope that Parliament will repeal the law -something that is announced to be very complicated-, called a 14th day of protests and demonstrations for this Tuesdaytwo days before a vote in the National Assembly (Lower House) to repeal the reform.

New protests in France against the pension reform https://t.co/o0qCnXCako pic.twitter.com/KgMrDlbm0l

– Telam Agency (@AgenciaTelam) June 6, 2023

The ruling party, which has already appealed to constitutional mechanisms to impose this reform, could on Thursday use a new one to declare inadmissible a key point of the repeal proposal presented by the centrist LIOT parliamentary group.

This would be “a democratic scandal”warned the general secretary of the CGT union, Sophie Binet. For LIOT and the left-wing opposition, this would intensify “anger and violence,” said the unionist, quoted by the AFP news agency.

The mayoress of Paris, the social democrat Anne Hidalgo, expressed her support for the protests and regretted that the population was not consulted before approving the pension reform.

The mayoress of Paris, the social democrat Anne Hidalgo, expressed her support for the protests and regretted that the population was not consulted before approving the pension reform

“I welcome this movement. It provides an example, it is peaceful and united. The unions managed to express the issues that politicians, including the left, have not been able to bring to public debate,” Hidalgo said in statements to radio station France Inter.

“They show that the system is profoundly unfair” and that it continues to “punish the poorest”which exposes the “total collapse” of democracy, asserted Hidalgo, who regretted that the population was not consulted before approving it, the Europa Press news agency reported.

Photo: AFP.

Macron, visiting Mont Saint-Michel on the occasion of the thousandth anniversary of the abbey located in the north-west of the country, said on Monday that “everything” can be discussed, but “respecting the Constitution”.

The authorities expect between 400,000 and 600,000 participants in the 250 protests planned throughout France, for which they deployed some 11,000 police officers and gendarmes.

But participation seems far from the 1.28 million protesters on March 7 (3.5 million, according to the CGT). The impact of the strike, in the electricity and transport sectors, is also announced to be less.