Will this Thursday mark the beginning of a long autumn of protest in France? This is the question posed in the subtext of the Times British in the face of the strike announced in France for this day. For Emmanuel Macron, this is the “first major national mobilization since his re-election”.
At least 200 gathering places are planned throughout France. To the initial slogan calling for an increase in wages, pensions and social minima in the face of inflation was added the issue of pensions. It is on him that the government’s efforts have been focused in recent days, explains the conservative daily. It is also he who will mark the return to parliament at the beginning of October.
“The vagueness reigned since his centrist party lost an absolute majority in the legislative elections, but the 44-year-old president is now putting his reputation at stake in the success of a pension reform which, before his withdrawal in early 2020 due to the pandemic, had already sparked virulent protests.”
Unions wind up, employers unenthusiastic
Currently, neither the substance nor the form that the reform will take are known. A postponement of the retirement age or the extension of the contribution period, or even a mix between the two? A separate text, an amendment to the Social Security budget (PLFSS), or a combination of the two, including the amendment to the PLFSS in January?
For now, “all the unions are up in arms, including the moderates of the CFDT, the leading trade union organization in France, observe the daily. And with French people under strain due to the rising cost of living and soaring energy prices, employers aren’t keen on reform either.”
The fear is basically the same. “Macron’s allies themselves fear that he will thus sow the winds of a storm of revolt like France experienced in 2018-2019, with the ‘yellow vests’ movement and its violence.”