The French President, Emmanuel Macronhas been confident that today the pension reform approved by Parliament enters into force before the end of the year, despite street protests against that project, and has insisted that it was a necessary project.

“It would be good for 1.8 million people see their pension increased about 600 euros per year”, the president assured in an interview with the two main television channels in the country.

Macron has insisted that the reform now depends on the opinion of the Constitutional Council, but not on the street protests that, he has said, “you have to respect when they are peaceful but not when they resort to extreme violence”.

Although he has acknowledged that “you have to listen to the anger” of citizens, has warned that “an overflow will not be tolerated”, because “legitimate anger” against the reform does not justify violence. Faced with the proliferation of strikes and blockades in some economic sectors, he has insisted that “blockades must be lifted when they affect economic life”, for example in refineries and fuel distribution or garbage collection.

Macron has only recognized one mistake in this entire process: that of “failing to convince” citizens of the need for pension reform, which according to the figures the Government will enter into a deficit that will grow to 12,500 million euros by 2030.

“Do you think I like to carry out this reform? No”, he said, before insisting that lowering pensions or raising the contributions of companies and workers has been ruled out (“we are one of the countries with the highest taxes in Europe), which that only leaves the option of working more.

“No union force has proposed compromises. They have told us that they did not want any reform“, he insisted.

The president has stressed that he understands the anger of many citizens when they see the extraordinary benefits of large companies and has said that he will ask the government to forced to “participate in the collective effort” of the nation