A week full of obstacles Emmanuel Macron, both on the street and in Parliament. The struggle over pension reform between the French government and the resurgent trade union front has entered a decisive phase. After mass mobilizations on 19 and 31 January, unions staged their third general strike this Tuesday in less than 20 days. They hope to keep up the pressure against raising the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 (age 42 or 43 contributes to getting a full pension), the day after the unpopular measure began to be debated in Parliament. National Assembly.
As with the previous two mobilizations, rail traffic More than 50% of high-speed trains and 30% of regional trains will be “hardly affected” as they are cancelled. In Paris, only two robotic metro lines (out of 16 in total) will travel normally. 20 percent of flights at Paris Orly Airport have been cancelled.
The FSU-SNUipp association, the main institution of primary education, is a 50% of teachers to hit. Workers at Total refineries, which successfully launched a protest in the fall that left a third of gas stations without fuel, will not go to work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. In the case of the power company EDF, they are promoting a three-day strike.
tense debate in parliament
These data point to a significant, though perhaps declining, following in sectors with high union membership in France, such as transport, education and energy. As with the 19th and 31st strikes, the eyes will be mainly on the demonstrations. With 1.27 million people on the streetAccording to police, data on protesters last week was higher than data on other historic mobilizations in the neighboring country, such as in 2010 or 1995. Another mobilization day has already been planned for next Saturday to ensure their massive participation. private sector employees. And so it reflects the split between the Government and a significant part of the French people.
Despite strong social pressure, Macron refuses to withdraw reform, which 69% of French people oppose, according to the latest poll by the Ifop institute. The unpopular text, which also requires contributing 43 years to receive a full pension from 2027, began to be debated in the National Assembly this Monday.
Despite the secondary weight of the Parliament in these recurring social struggles between a significant part of the French population and the executive power – controversial 49.3. roses “Just one street and assembly combination can lead us to victory. (…) Emmanue Macron has lost the ideological battle, and passing Parliament could be the banana peel that caused the government to slip,” he said.
Labor Minister against the ropes
“We have to choose between reform or bankruptcy,” Budget Minister Gabriel Attal said from the parliamentary rostrum, where there was a very tense atmosphere and the shouts of opposition representatives could be heard from their seats. According to the government, the pension system will pile up if the text is not approved deficit of approximately 13,000 million euros It represents 3% of total pension spending in 2030.
This measure “goes in the same direction Approved in 1993, 2003 or 2010said Labor Minister Olivier Dussoptrefers to other reforms that have already reduced the advanced French pension model. This leader, who moved from the Socialist Party to Macronism in 2017, will have to defend the text in a moment of personal weakness. digital diary media division reported last weekend that the prosecution was holding the case. crime of “nepotism” in an alleged investigation relationship When he was mayor of Annonay in the mid-east of the French territory.
In addition to the alleged corruption case of the Minister of Labor, the Executive faces parliamentary debate under the weight of Parliament. absence of a simple majority MPs in favor of reform. Despite reaching an agreement with the Los Republicos (PP-affiliated LR) leadership, the high number of opposition representatives on the Republican right pushes the presidential majority away from the 289 threshold. 62 in total) amended against Article 7, which increased the statutory retirement age from 62 to 64.
To persuade them, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne offered them some concessions. Those who start working at the age of 20 retire at the age of 63 and has 43 years of contributions. But opponents of the Republican right will not give up. Even more so when we consider that most of them are elected in rural constituencies and that the most important protests take place in such small and medium-sized cities.
If he doesn’t win a majority of MPs, Macron can always approve the measure by decree, but that comes at a greater political cost. “If the government decides to enforce it against the opinion of the majority of the population, especially the middle and working class, it will negative footprintChristophe Bouillaud, a political scientist from Sciences Po Grenoble, warns in his statements to EL PERIÓDICO DE CATALUNYA of the Prensa Ibérica group.
Source: Informacion
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