Today, French cities have witnessed strikes in several sectors and demonstrations expected to be massive in opposition to the pension reform law that the French government approved a week ago, resorting to a constitutional clause without the need for a parliamentary vote. on the ninth day, the road leading to Charles de Gaulle Airport, north of Paris, was closed. Strikes and protests against pension reform. And France’s unions said today, Thursday, would be another day of riots and demonstrations across the country, and yesterday, Wednesday, protesters rejecting the pension law closed train stations in the cities of Nice and Toulouse in the south of the country. The unions have vowed to break the government’s grip and force it to retract its pension reform law, while the government strictly enforces the law it sees fit. The protest demonstrations are taking place against the backdrop of a widespread security presence, as authorities have recruited 5,000 guards in Paris alone. And a French news agency said the protests were being organized for the ninth time since January 19, marking the first time the government passed a pension law without a vote in parliament.
Yesterday, on Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron commented on the escalation of protests against the adoption of an amendment to the law on the pension system and stressed that no violent offenses would be committed. Macron stressed the need for the law to come into force before the end of this year, calling on trade unions to return to dialogue. The French President said the law raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 will continue on its democratic path, which includes consideration by the Constitutional Council in the coming weeks, stressing that it cannot be made into law until the Council approves it. . Yesterday, on Wednesday, French President Macron said that reforming the pension system “is neither fun nor luxury, but necessary because it is in the public interest,” referring to the deteriorating financial situation of pension funds and the aging of the country’s population. Opponents of raising the retirement age reject the move, calling it unfair, especially for women and hard workers.
The head of the reformist union of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), Laurent Bergé, has accused French President Macron of lying in response to his accusation that unions failed to submit a proposal for an agreement with the government to reform the pension system. Bergé said that the union had presented a project to reform the pension system and that the idea of unifying pension systems in France had been his idea since 2019, and added that Macron was falsifying history and lying to cover up his inability to find a parliamentary majority to push through his unfair reform. . Opinion polls show that the vast majority of French people oppose the pension reform law and the government’s decision to pass the bill without a vote in parliament.
