France/Retirement: new protests

For the 14th consecutive time since the beginning of the year, thousands of French people opposed to the controversial pension reform demonstrated yesterday Tuesday throughout France. Strikes and demonstrations took place in many cities, and air and rail traffic was severely disrupted.

"A total of 11,000 police and gendarmes were deployed to ensure the security of the demonstrations and guarantee their right to demonstrate," French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced according to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Opponents took to the streets as in the past to show their anger over the postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64. Among them, some, having worked hard all their lives, say they are angry, as are those who say they feel exhausted, especially since the government is now going to take two years' pension from them.

Many are also still angry that Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne passed parliamentary reforms without a sufficient majority. They thus feel despised by the government.

This reform will be effective in September. Both decrees were published on Sunday. Members of Macron's party reiterated that the issue of reform was politically settled.

Laurent Berger, boss of the moderate union CFDT, is of course against this process and declares: “The president is mistaken if he thinks that this file is closed in the minds of people. It's not true. However, Berger admitted that was probably the last day of such action. According to him, the race will end, but the resistance will take other forms.

According to the Interior Ministry, 280,000 people took part in the strikes and demonstrations in different cities yesterday, a lower number than at the height of the demonstrations, as unanimously reported by French media. The CGT union spoke of more than 900,000 demonstrators.

The pension reform on the postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64, was adopted after a long standoff and should come into force in September. This Thursday, the opposition will try to reverse the trend, with little chance of success.

Emmanuel Macron and his government want these reforms to prevent an imminent financial hole in the pension fund. In this way, the payment period for the full pension will increase more quickly.

The retirement age in France is currently set at 62 years. In fact, retirement begins later: those who have not paid enough to benefit from a full pension must work longer. At age 67, there is a non-deductible pension regardless of the duration of payment.

There have been months of strikes and demonstrations against the plan in France, some of which have been violent. Yesterday, Sophie Binet, president of the CGT union, warned: “If he (Macron) decides to stick to these reforms, nothing will be as before. »