France braces for new strikes against Macron’s pension reform

PARIS: France braced on Monday for another day of mass protests and strikes over proposed pension overhauls being pushed by President Emmanuel Macron, with the government and its left-wing opponents trading blame for the expected disruptions.

Around 1.1 million people took to the streets for the first strike day on January 19, according to official statistics, the biggest demonstrations since the last major round of pension reform under right-wing president Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010.

A police source told AFP that security forces were expecting similarly sized crowds on Tuesday in 240 demonstrations around the country, in addition to strike disruptions to transport, schools and other services.

With unions warning that more stoppages are to come, the strikes represent a major test for Macron as he seeks to implement a showcase policy of his second term in office.

Mathilde Panot, a senior lawmaker from the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, accused Macron and his ministers of being responsible for the stoppages that are to cripple public transport and other services.

“They´re the ones who want to wreak havoc on the country,” she told BFM television while also criticising comments by Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin over the weekend as a “provocation.”

Darmanin, a close Macron ally, said Saturday that left-wing political parties were “only looking to screw up the country” and were defending “idleness and champagne socialism”.

The most controversial part of the proposed reform is hiking the minimum retirement age to 64 from 62, which is the lowest level in any major European economy.

Macron, who made the change part of his re-election manifesto last year, says it is needed to guarantee the future financing of the pension system, which is forecast to tip into deficit in the next few years.

Opponents point out that the system is currently balanced, noting that the head of the independent Pensions Advisory Council recently told parliament that “pension spending is not out of control, it´s relatively contained”.

For Macron, who has repeatedly told French people they “need to work more”, failure to succeed with a signature proposal would severely undermine his credibility for the remainder of his second and last term in office, analysts say.

The government headed by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has signalled there is wiggle room on some measures as parliamentary committees started examining the draft law on Monday.

Conditions could be improved for people who started working very young, or for mothers who interrupted their careers to look after children and people who invested in further education, Borne has suggested.

But the headline age limit of 64 is not up for discussion, she said Sunday, calling it “non-negotiable”. Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT union, warned that the government “cannot remain deaf to this formidable mobilisation.” “Listen, listen, listen to this discontent,” he told France 2 television.