With only a year and a few days until his re-election, Emmanuel Macron is currently in a highly controversial position politically. Extremely disturbed by the loss of a significant part of its standard of living, French society demands reforms to rectify its pulse and course, and general anger reaches and elevates Republican institutions that fail to detect their demands for modernization. in an interrogation that jeopardizes the very essence of the system.
As it is known, Macron became President of France on April 24, 2022, in the 2017 elections, when he defeated the far-right Marine Le Pen in the second round. Five years later, in the 2022 elections, the same candidates advanced to the second round, and Macron remained in the presidency by a comfortable 58.5% compared to 41.5%. The election program that facilitated his re-election made it clear that the president intends to gradually delay the retirement age from 62 to 64. In March 2022, government spokesman Gabriel Attal told RTL radio that this would be a “responsibility” reform and pointed to the need to balance Social Security accounts to keep them sustainable. Also “justice”, as this will involve a reassessment of the minimum pension up to EUR 1,100 per month for those who have completed the full bonus period.
In other words, the President, who shared legislative power and sovereignty in the French presidential system with the Parliament, had all the legitimacy to propose and try to implement a reform that was made public before he was elected. Justified by the need to strengthen the pension system. As a result, it can be grounded that those who oppose and continue to oppose this collective sacrifice with great demonstrations are not acting democratically. However, almost everything is relative in politics, and in this case, those who cause problems also have arguments.
First of all, sociologists and academics condemn a strong workers’ crisis in France, which is much bigger than the rest of the continent. As the French sociologist Dominique Méda explained in the Spanish press, half of those surveyed associate work with a feeling of discomfort, according to the Working Conditions in France study. As for the latest edition of the Eurofound survey of more than 70,000 workers from 36 European countries in 2021, it reveals the very poor position of France in Europe. The physical and mental tensions are stronger than elsewhere. France is distinguished by high levels of violence and discrimination in the workplace, low support from colleagues, and pay that is not seen as commensurate with the effort required: only 45% of French people consider themselves “well paid” for their efforts. what they do and what they do” versus 68% of Germans and 58% of Europeans. Also, France is unique in that employees have little influence over their own business and company decisions. Additionally, the quality of employment in France is one of the worst in Europe: almost 40% of assets find themselves in a ‘tense’ employment situation where demands are higher than the resources to allow them to be met.
In short, when, despite the electoral majority supporting Macron and giving him full legitimacy, when the reform protest reaches a provocative, rather than arbitrary, heat, the logical thing to do is to accept political dialogue with the party. the public that expresses its voice through protest channels, which are also constitutional: demonstrations and protests through the media system. Democracy consists not in voting (in this case) every five years, but in initiating a permanent dialogue between citizens and institutions. Macron has the right to carry out his program, but he must do so without abandoning the dialectic and forgetting that civil society has the right to change its mind, and sometimes even contradictory, in any case.