“I don’t enjoy it either”

Paris Emmanuel Macron chose an unusual setting for his first public statements on the controversial decision to push through his pension reforms despite massive protests and no parliamentary vote. Instead of the usual prime-time address to the nation in the evening, France’s president explained himself in a television interview at lunchtime. Macron made it clear there on Wednesday that he would stick to the law – and that he wanted to continue his reform course for the country even without a clear majority.

“Do you think I enjoy doing this reform?” the President asked the moderators of the two major channels TF1 and France 2. “No!” Raising the statutory retirement age from 62 to 64 years is “necessary”, so that pension insurance remains affordable in an aging society.

Macron has been using this argument for months to promote the reform, which is considered the most important domestic policy project of his second term. During his first term in office, the President had already attempted to reform pensions, but abandoned it in spring 2020 after protests and against the background of the onset of the corona crisis. Now he left no doubt: the law will come into force “by the end of the year”.

>> Read here: Macron twilight: The pension fiasco illustrates the president’s loss of power

“Between the short-term polls and the general interest of the country, I choose the general interest,” Macron said. His demeanor was somewhat reminiscent of the defiant determination of the Basta policy, with which SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schröder once pushed through the social reforms of Agenda 2010 despite protests and resistance in his own party.

Macron: “No, je ne regrette rien”

Macron said in the interview that he had no regrets – maybe just that he had failed to make the need for this reform clear. His predecessors would have put off the sensitive issue.

“And the longer we wait, the worse it gets.” The alternatives would be to lower pensions, increase social security contributions or increase the already high national debt.

According to surveys, the French reject raising the retirement age by a clear majority. In the politician barometer of the opinion research institute Ifop, Macron’s popularity dropped to 28 percent – the lowest value since the yellow vest protests four years ago. Strikes have paralyzed the country since January, and millions of people took to the streets during national days of protest.

In the National Assembly, where Macron’s center-alliance has not had its own majority since the parliamentary elections of June 2022, the law had threatened to fail. So Macron decided to push through the controversial reform without a vote from MPs.

Last Thursday, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne invoked a special power of attorney laid down in Article 49.3 of the Constitution. The opposition then filed a vote of no confidence in the government, which narrowly failed on Monday evening. Since then, the law has been formally adopted – even if the French Constitutional Council still has to finally examine its legality.

Hundreds arrested during protests

The protests have intensified in recent days. Garbage cans and barricades burned in several cities, and the police used tear gas. Hundreds of people were arrested.

Protests in Marseille

Dockers stand in front of a burning barricade at the port of Marseille. In France, thousands have again protested against the government’s pension reform.

(Photo: dpa)

Macron said in the interview that demonstrations against the reform are legitimate. However, the President criticized the “extreme violence” that was also being directed at state representatives and parliamentarians. Most recently, constituency offices had been attacked by MPs, and a town hall in Lyon was stormed.

According to French media reports, the President said on Tuesday evening at a meeting with MPs from his center alliance that the “crowd” on the streets had no “democratic legitimacy”. Macron explained the statement, which his opponents cited as further evidence of the head of state’s aloofness, on Wednesday: The pension law is going through the institutions as prescribed by the constitution – and the failed vote of no confidence has shown that there is no alternative majority in parliament .

>> Read here: Macron’s government survives vote of no confidence – but protests against pension reform continue

Unions have called for another nationwide day of protests on Thursday. The interview did not appease the opponents of the pension reform – on the contrary. Macron “poured even more fuel on the fire,” said Socialist party leader Olivier Faure.

Macron wants to continue to be the reform president

Macron offered unions a dialogue on how older workers could be supported – for example, by retraining people in physically demanding jobs. He also proposed a rule to require highly profitable companies to share profits with their employees, rather than just buying back shares.

“There is a sense of injustice and I hear that,” Macron said. The President explained that he did not want to stand still in the remaining four years and that he wanted to carry out further reforms – in the schools, in the health system, in the economic framework.

The government has postponed the draft law for a reform of immigration law, which was supposed to be debated next week, in view of the heated mood in parliament.

More: Marine Le Pen benefits from dispute over pension reform

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