France lives this Tuesday a new day of strike and mobilizations throughout the country against the pension reform project. The challenge to President Emmanuel Macron and his government grows in intensity, with no compromise in sight. The unions are united and polls show that more than two-thirds of citizens are opposed to delaying the retirement age by two years.
The Ministry of the Interior has mobilized 11,000 police officers and gendarmes, 4,000 of them in Paris, a higher number of troops than on the 19th, the first day of protests. Between 1 and 1.2 million people are expected to take to the streets, a figure similar to or even higher than that of the previous call. Some indications suggest that there could be more violence.
Stoppages or disturbances are foreseen in the railway service, public transport in cities, schools, power plants and refineries. "I think that one or two shows of force are still needed for the government to become aware of the strong rejection that its text arouses," declared, in an interview with Le Monde, the general secretary of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), Laurent Berger, at the head of one of the most moderate unions and who had a fairly fluid relationship with Macron in the past.
The CFDT's combativeness shows the extent to which the government's project is experiencing difficulties in moving forward. The reform is already in the parliamentary process. More than 7,000 amendments have been tabled in the National Assembly. Approval is by no means guaranteed because the government is in the minority and the radical left and the extreme right, with very large groups, form a fearsome clamp.
There is nervousness in the Government because the failure of the reform would be the failure of Macron's second five-year period at the Elysee. It would ruin his transformative zeal. Several ministers went on the offensive over the weekend, including Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. Both are credited with ambitions to succeed Macron in 2027. Le Maire warned that France must reduce its debt, which has already exceeded 3 trillion euros. Darmanin accused the left of propagating for years a culture that despises the value of work. "Working is not a disease, on the contrary, it is a beautiful value that gives human life its dignity," said the head of the Interior.
The pension reform had to be abandoned during Macron's first term when the pandemic arrived. The president thought that, in the midst of a health emergency, it was reckless to subject the country to the pressure of an unpopular reform. Macron had already given in two years earlier to the revolt of the yellow vests against the ecotax that was going to be imposed on fuels. But giving up on pension reform would be an even more serious political coup that would undermine his authority for the remainder of his term.
