The specter of massive anti-government demonstrations, which the yellow vests made one of the hallmarks of Emmanuel Macron’s first term in France, now haunt his second government. This Thursday (19) the country faces a general strike, called in reaction to the pension reform announced on the last day 10 by the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne.
This is the first strike to unify the main French trade unions in 12 years. The president, who since his victory in the 2022 election has faced the setback of losing his majority in the Legislature and the bitter impacts of the Ukraine War in Europe, now sees an articulation that promises to generate a chaotic Thursday in the country.
Schools are expected to close, part of transport and health services will be suspended and the work of the postal service will be interrupted, as well as that of the energy and oil sectors. “It will be a very, very large mobilization,” trade unionist Philippe Martinez, secretary general of the General Confederation of Workers (CGT), told France Info radio. “In the face of such serious reform, it is an important signal that all unions are united.”
The signs of massive participation of workers in the protests should mark the beginning of a campaign that intends to continue until February —and that has everything to resurrect the revolts that generated upheaval in 2018 after the announcement of the increase in a tax on fuel.
With the reform plans revealed on the 10th, the yellow vests have already appeared in Paris and cities like Toulouse, the fourth largest in France, where a march last weekend closed downtown streets amid shouts against Macron and his proposal for the pension.
Faced with an explosive scenario, amidst a population already enraged by the rise in food and fuel prices, analysts have been cautious in assessing what proportions the strike could take. At the end of the meeting of the council of ministers, this Wednesday (18), spokesman Olivier Véran set the tone for the relationship between the Élysée and the strike front: “You cannot confuse a demonstration and the right to strike with a blockade”.
Less ambitious than the proposal defended by Macron in the campaign for re-election, the reform announced by the government wants to increase the minimum age for retirement by two years, from 62 to 64 years, until 2030. to full pension, from 42 to 43 years, anticipating this change to 2027 —a 2014 law foresees the measure only for 2035. This change would affect even workers who fall under special regimes, which should be extinguished for new entrants to the social security system .
According to Ministry of Labor estimates, increasing contribution years could yield an additional €17.7 billion a year for pension funds.
“When there are more seniors working, we increase our collective wealth, because there are more taxes”, defended Borne. “These resources can be used to reduce our budget deficit and for financial policy priority areas such as health, education and environmental transition.”
For Laurent Berger, secretary general of the French Democratic Labor Confederation (CFDT), the largest union in the country, it is about “a reform to balance the budget [do país] only on the backs of the workers”.
The retirement age in France is lower than in most European countries. Britons, for example, have access to the pension scheme at age 66 and Italians at 67.
Macron had already presented a first proposal to reform the sector in 2019, in his first term. At the time, he faced streets taken by demonstrations and the longest transport strike in the history of France. The beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, then, made him put his plans back in the drawer.
Almost four years later, the French president stated, in his New Year’s speech, that the reform is “essential to save the system” in social security and to balance the State’s accounts. Perhaps anticipating noise, he also asked the population to remain united.
Days later, the prime minister explained that, under the current model, “active members finance the pensions of retired members”. And she continued, arguing in defense of the changes that would come to the proposal: “We are living longer and longer, so the number of workers in relation to the number of retirees is constantly decreasing.”
To the ears of the French, however, the speech sounded like an excuse for the withdrawal of rights. In a joint statement, the country’s main trade union centrals classified the reform as brutal and without justification, claiming that it will hit all workers hard.
“If we live longer than in the 1950s, on the other hand we are much more productive”, countered the CGT in another note. “We produce more wealth through our work, and nobody can dispute that. In theory, we have the means to finance retirement.”
According to a survey commissioned by the economic newspaper Les Echos, the most important in the area, 61% of French people agree that some pension reform is necessary in the country, but 66% disagree with the change in the minimum age and 60% reject the increase in the minimum contribution time .
In addition to pressure from the streets, the Macron-Borne duo’s proposal also united opposition parties, shuffling antagonistic political camps. “It’s a serious social regression,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the ultra-left party França Insubmissa. On the opposite side, Jordan Bardella, president of Marine Le Pen’s National Meeting, used the terms “unfair and brutal” to define the text.
Completing the scenario, the centrist president appears with low popularity in the polls, which imposes extra difficulties on reformist plans in a scenario where there is no majority in Parliament – lost just two months after his re-election, in 2022.
The proposal must be formally presented to the council of ministers on the 23rd, to then go to the National Assembly, where Macron hopes to obtain the support of the right to approve the text in the first quarter. During that time, the union of trade unions in France must not give a truce.
Main measures of the reform proposed by Macron
- Gradually change the retirement age: from 62 today, it would reach 64 in 2030. The minimum age will increase by three months per year from 1st Sep 2023
- Increase the minimum contribution time to access the full pension: from 42 years today, it would become 43 in 2027. The contribution time will increase by three months each year
- Those who started working early, between 14 and 16 years old, will be able to retire when they turn 58 and 60 years old, respectively
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