STORY: In France, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated again on Saturday against the planned pension reform, which, among other things, is to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. According to the largest trade union, the CFDT, around 250 protest marches were planned across the country. In a joint statement, the largest workers’ representatives called for the government’s planned project to be scrapped, otherwise they threatened to paralyze the country. Another strike day is already scheduled for February 16th. And from March 7th there should be another general strike. President Emmanuel Macron wants to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. He describes the reform as essential to keep the pension system going. Originally, he even wanted to raise the retirement age to 65, but he was accommodating to critics.