Hundreds of thousands demonstrated across France against the pension reform.
(Photo: AP)
Paris The announcements ahead of this year’s Labor Day were big in France: unions promised a “historic” day and called for participation in over 300 demonstrations across the country. May Day was supposed to bring a “social explosion” in the country in protest against pension reform.
The reform has already been approved and officially signed by President Emmanuel Macron. Despite the massive resistance, he pushed them through and pointed out that the changes were necessary for the pension system to remain viable.
In numerous cities such as Marseille, Lyon or Toulouse, the protests began on Monday morning, in Paris it started at 2 p.m. The first pictures from Nantes showed crowds, in Paris and Lyon there were riots. Union leader Laurent Berger of the moderate CFDT previously spoke of a May Day that should be “one of the biggest in the last 30 or 40 years”.
The unions hoped for a mobilization of one to 1.5 million people, despite the public holiday and vacation. The government expected 500,000 to 650,000 people, compared to around 100,000 on May 1 last year. According to the first estimates, the numbers were significantly higher than usual, but the mass mobilization hoped for by the unions did not materialize. The government deployed 12,000 police officers across France, including 5,000 in Paris.
Nevertheless, Berger explained: “The great success of the mobilization shows the rejection of the pension reform.” After fewer and fewer French people took part in the protests in recent weeks, the trade unions were faced with the challenge of reviving the protests. At least ideally, the French are still behind it: according to a survey by the daily newspaper “Le Figaro”, 65 percent were in favor of the demonstrations on May 1st.
Macron will start negotiations with the unions on Tuesday
The pension reform is intended to increase the official entry age from 62 to 64, and the contribution period from 42 to 43. However, many French people are already only retiring at the age of 67, because otherwise the payment years would not be sufficient for a pension without deductions. Berger has little hope that Macron will withdraw the law, but hopes that the details will be adjusted. Negotiations on this are planned with the unions from Tuesday.
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After Macron’s government boxed the pension reform with a constitutional trick without a vote by parliament, there is outrage in France. Meanwhile, the President is trying to score points with other concerns in the country.
He and his ministers travel from north to south on issues such as agriculture, education and the environment. But the trips are a challenge. Macron and his ministers are regularly received with drumming on pots and pans. Because of the noise, the politicians can hardly be heard.
Macron’s attempt to make a name for himself with other issues regularly fails due to loud protests from the French.
(Photo: IMAGO/NurPhoto)
A year after his re-election, the president appears weakened and is under enormous political pressure. Macron had also insisted on the pension reform to prove France’s adaptability. Apparently without success: The rating agency Fitch has just lowered France’s credit rating by one notch from “AA” to “AA-“. Political standstill and protests are risks for the reform agenda, Fitch reasoned.
The agency downgraded France due to high sovereign debt but still rated the outlook for the economy as stable. Fitch assumes economic growth of 0.8 percent for the current year. She warned that “lower growth prospects and weakened competitiveness” could lead to another downgrade.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Fitch’s “pessimistic” assessment underestimated the consequences of the reforms. He reiterated the government’s “perfect determination” to reduce the public deficit and debt and announced further reforms, including a bill for “green industries”.
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