Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets this Thursday in France in a day of strike against the project of President Emmanuel Macron to delay the retirement age to 64 years.
Written and television press reports show a flood of people demonstrating against a reform that they consider unfair, but that the government defends as the only way to avoid a future deficit in the pension fund.
The reform is one of the key measures that the 45-year-old French president promised during the campaign that led to his reelection in April, after a first project in 2020 that he had to abandon due to the arrival of the pandemic.
But after years of crisis (social protest of the yellow vests, pandemic, inflation), it represents a “living test” for Macron about his mandate and about “the mark he will leave in history,” according to the newspaper. Le Parisien.
Although her intention was to delay it from 62 to 65, thus bringing it closer to the rest of the European countries, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne raised 64 years, but bringing forward to 2027 the requirement to contribute 43 years to receive a full pension.
According to a poll published on Wednesday, although 81% of the French consider a reform necessary, 61% reject this measure and 58% support the strike movement.
From Barcelona, where he participated in a summit with the Spanish president Pedro Sánchez, Emmanuel Macron defended a “fair and responsible” reform and asked that the demonstrations take place “without disorder, violence, or destruction.”
The unions expect more than a million people in the streets. Pending the data from Paris, Toulouse registered 36,000 demonstrators; Marseille, 26 thousand; Nantes, 25 thousand; Lyon, 23 thousand; etc, according to figures from the authorities.
“The government has already lost a battle (…), that of convincing the people,” said leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon from Marseille. The left-wing parties and the far-right opposition reject the reform, but not the right-wing opposition.
