Frans has to wait until 64 to retire, President Macron is implementing unpopular reforms

the French president, Emmanuel Macronannounced its unpopular pension reform early Saturday morning, a “provocation” for the unions and the opposition after three months of a social conflict that will continue.

“A law that is promulgated at night, like thieves,” said communist leader Fabien Roussel. “What a provocation! New bluff by Emmanuel Macron while the country is more broken than ever,” tweeted ecologist Marine Tondelier.

Macron’s office announced that the head of state will address the country on Monday evening to take stock of the three months of crisis, “in a logic of reconciliation”.

The Constitutional Council on Friday endorsed the postponement of the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 and the bringing forward to 2027 of the requirement to contribute for 43 years, not 42, to get a full pension.

Although this represents a “legal victory” for the 45-year-old liberal president, the press unanimously estimated on Saturday that it is a “pyrrhic victory”, especially when a large majority of the French opposed it.

Unions had warned that France was experiencing a “democratic crisis” after the president decided in March to pass his unpopular law by decree. for fear of losing the vote in parliament, where he does not have an absolute majority.

This decision radicalized the protests and, with its quick promulgation, Macron “seems to enjoy throwing fuel on the fire”, estimated UNSA union leader Laurent Escure, for whom “no good will come of this”.

The World Bank recommends increasing the number of working years to maintain the economically active population

On Friday, after the ruling of the Constitutional, incidents were recorded in several cities, such as Paris, where there were 138 detainees.

Rennes (west) was again the scene of clashes on Saturday between security forces and participants in a march, from which a group broke away, destroying a bank agency and the entrance to a four-star hotel, setting fire to cars and damaged luxury and rubbish bins.

May 1 protest

The trade union centers called for an “exceptional mobilization” on May 1, on the occasion of International Labor Day, to protest against the reform.

The four representative unions of the national railway company SNCF announced on Thursday “a day of expression of anger”.

And trade union CGT also announced new strike days and protests in all sectors on Thursday and April 28.

Low popularity of Macron

The unions refuse to consult with the government and Macron before May 1.

On May 3, the Constitutional Court must rule on a request from the left-wing opposition to organize a referendum on limiting the retirement age to 62, after rejecting a similar initial request on Friday.

In April 2022, Macron was re-elected with 58.5% of the vote against the far-right Marine Le Pen. Aware that his victory was due in part to the cordon sanitaire against his rival, he vowed to rule differently and unite the country.

But the pension reform episode showed the opposite. The law was passed using controversial legal mechanisms that limited debate in parliament and without listening to societal rejection.

The popularity of the head of state has now fallen to less than 30% in polls.

“There is an arrogance in Emmanuel Macron that feeds on social ignorance,” said historian Pierre Rosanvallon in the newspaper Libération, for whom “the time of revolutions” or “far-right populism” could now return.

The polls show a deterioration in French confidence in the institutions and an increase in intention to vote for Marine Le Pen, despite her opposition to the reform being less active than that of the left.