Emmanuel Macron addressed the French on Monday, in a televised address, to tell them that he is aware of the social anger caused by the pension reform, but has insisted that "these changes were necessary" to guarantee retirement and avoid a deficit that the new generations should pay.
The President of the Republic has disappointed his critics, especially the unions, because in his words there has not been the slightest retreat or any truly innovative announcement or concession. Pan concerts have been organized in some cities.
The general secretary of the main union, the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), Laurent Berger, has said on the BFM-TV radio station that Macron has been left "in a kind of vacuum", "with nothing concrete", "with little empathy", showing that he has not understood the state of the country. The new leader of the General Confederation of Labour, Sophie Binet, spoke in similar terms and warned that without going back on pensions there will be no "return to normality".
Macron's intervention did not include any ambitious political initiative to break the impasse and guarantee stability in Parliament with a new pact that ensures a majority for his projects. However, the president drew his roadmap in areas such as labor relations, the improvement of justice, democratic quality, immigration regulation and others, but these are issues that were already known.
The Head of State invited employers and unions to the Elysee to discuss working conditions and remuneration, the employment of seniors and the progress of professional careers. The objective is to seal a "new pact of working life" The unions are not willing to talk at the moment, very irritated by the way in which the pension reform was approved, and they are concentrating on a massive protest on May Day .
Macron claimed successes such as the creation of 1.7 million jobs in six years and the good pace of the reconstruction of Notre Dame, but that was not what the country expected after months of great tension, strikes, mobilizations and violence in the street. The president wanted to be solemn, as is his habit, with reflections that are difficult to specify, such as saying that "the answer cannot lie in immobility or in extremism."
