Pension reform and in France, seen from abroad. In the United States, the American press observes with disbelief the rise in violence in France, after the vote on the law on pensions in Parliament. The German press perceives the use of 49.3 as a failure for Emmanuel Macron.
With our correspondents in Berlin and Washington,
The photo made the front page of New York Times, and this choice no doubt validates the visibility strategy of French left-wing deputies. We see them brandishing their signs in the precincts of the National Assembly when Elisabeth Borne engages the responsibility of her government on the controversial text. THE washington post chooses the same image, still on the front page, but in a smaller format and at the bottom of the page, explains Guillaume Naudinour correspondent in Washington.
On the inside pages, the newspapers explain the content of the reform, the political consequences of the use of 49.3 and the possible vote of a motion of censure. Televisions also insist on these aspects. They also tell in images the anger, the demonstrations in the streetsincidents and arrests in several cities in France.
In a country unaccustomed to social movements and mass demonstrations, these are unusual and spectacular images, such as those of the garbage piling up in Paris due to the garbage collectors’ strike and which are widely relayed. For several days, the press has been wondering about what all this says about the relationship of the French to work and about this rebellious spirit which never ceases to arouse a form of incredulity, but also perhaps of fascination on this side of the ‘Atlantic.
” It is the failure of the Macron method »
In the German press, it is a landscape of chaos described by the correspondent of the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Under his pen, Paris looks like a scene of war, and parliamentarians who voted for pension reform are reduced to asking for police protection while barricades burn in Paris, reports Nathalie Versieux, our correspondent in Berlin. “ It is the failure of the Macron method “, title the daily in a comment.
THE Suddeutsche Zeitunga liberal, is also interested in the failure of the Macron method, recalling that a year ago he announced that “ the French are tired of the reforms imposed on them from above ». “ Nine months later, the president without a majority is reduced to resorting to 49.3 to push through the main project of his second term. »regrets the newspaper.
The weakness of the executive is particularly worrying in Germany, at a time when Berlin is counting on a strong partner to deal with Russian aggression in Ukraine.
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