Last week in France, the president Emmanuel Macron the government announced that it would push through the raising of the retirement age, which had sparked fierce opposition, without a parliamentary vote.
The unpopular pension reform raises the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The government ended up using a special procedure because it did not get enough support for the unpopular law in the National Assembly, i.e. Parliament.
France’s unpopular pension reform is not only about raising the retirement age
In order to receive a full pension in France, the insurance year requirement is met (you switch to another service).
In practice, Macron’s pension reform would mean that in order to retire and receive a full pension, an employee must have reached the age of 64 and worked for 43 years. If the length of the working career is not sufficient, you can only retire at the age of 69 and the amount of the pension is not full.
Researcher specializing in France Laura Parkkinen says that the French fear that raising the retirement age will lower the threshold for raising it in the future as well.
– People are afraid that they will have to work until their graves, Parkkinen says.
According to Parkkinen, women and mothers in particular are worried about Macron’s pension reform, because taking care of children in France usually means being away from working life for several years.
– If there are many children, there will be many years out of working life. And when the number of working years affects the time of retirement, a mother who takes care of children at home cannot retire according to the retirement age. This also affects the amount of the pension.
In the demonstrations, pent-up discontent is released
The pension reform sparked widespread strikes and demonstrations in the country. According to the estimate of the French Ministry of the Interior, about 1.1 million people participated in the demonstrations on Thursday, reports the news agency AFP.
The French trade union Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) estimates the number of protesters to be up to 3.5 million. According to it, up to 800,000 people participated in the Paris protests.
Parkkinen says that even though the main reason for the protests is Macron’s pension reform, there is other general dissatisfaction that has been pent up in French society.
– It is also about the polarization of society, inflation, youth unemployment and a prolonged pandemic.
Parkkinen also sees dissatisfaction with Macron’s way of doing politics in the demonstrations. They talk about Macron as being in the position of an autocrat and not listening to the people, says Parkkinen.
– He is considered a president blinded by power. He is considered arrogant and is unable to dialogue or listen to others.
Parkkinen even talks about the “crisis of macronism”. He adds that many commentators in France are talking about the biggest crisis in a long time, which is considered a threat to French democracy.
– This is where Macron’s power is questioned, what he represents and his way of acting is challenged. Many talk about principles, democracy and [kansan] listening. If this is not considered a crisis of democracy, it is considered a kind of end of macronism.
The protests are likely to affect the next election
According to Parkkinen, the crowd participating in the protests consists of many different areas of society, as up to three quarters of French people oppose Macron’s pension reform.
– There is a large consensus that Macron is wrong, this covers many social classes. There are especially many young people and women involved now.
However, Parkkinen considers the current demonstrations to be an exception to the previous ones, even though France has a long tradition of so-called street power, which is called “la rue”. Literally, it means street. When the legislature, the executive or the judiciary do not produce the desired result, the people take to the streets to demand change.
– What makes this different is that the demonstrations have been going on for a long time and now they are already threatening a general strike. The problem is also that there is no one leading the movement and everything can drift into chaos.
Parkkinen sees that even though Macron will no longer be able to run for office in the next presidential election, the coming protests will affect the election regardless. He believes that all the discontent with Macron is beneficial Marine Le Pen The National Alliance party and the country’s left-wing populists.
– I have to remember how Macron was elected. The last time he was opposed was Le Pen. Then the French wonder which is the lesser evil. The vote for Macron was not for him but against Le Pen.