More than 1.1 million demonstrate in France against pension reform

In Paris on Thursday, emergency services used tear gas against protesters after objects were thrown at them by masked people. President Emmanuel Macron called for peaceful rallies and non-violence. He defended pension reform as just and necessary.

More than 200 protests, 80,000 in Paris alone

“We have to pull this off,” he said on the sidelines of a state visit to Madrid. He wants the retirement age to be raised by two years to 64. For the unions, Thursday’s rallies are just the start of a wave of protests. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 80,000 protested in Paris alone. The unions spoke of a participation of more than two million people in the more than 200 protests.

Train traffic largely came to a standstill and local public transport was severely disrupted. According to the rail operator SNCF, there were hardly any regional trains and the high-speed TGV lines were significantly thinned out. In addition, many schools remained closed and refineries were blocked. Unions had called on workers to stop working and take to the streets against longer working lives. The unpopular reform is considered a key project in Macron’s second term.

The strikes also affected power generation. Data from utility EDF and grid operator RTE showed it fell by 7.8 gigawatts (GW), about 12 percent of total electricity supply. France therefore had to import more electricity from Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Spain. EDF announced that 45 percent of its employees participated in the strikes. The nuclear power plants in the country would probably be ramped up to ensure grid stability during the day, said analyst Emeric de Vigan: “This is how strikes work in France: Strikers must not endanger the security of supply.”

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced the main lines of the pension reform last week. President Emmanuel Macron had already tried in 2019 to simplify the complicated French pension system and enforce that French people work longer. This had led to the longest wave of protests since the 1968 student revolt. The reform project was then initially put on hold because of the corona pandemic.

With the reform, the government wants to secure the long-term financing of the pension system. The pension fund is currently in surplus, but the government expects a deficit of 14 billion euros by 2030. According to the OECD, the pension system is currently costing France around 14 percent of its economic output.

The retirement age is therefore to be raised from 62 to 64. Originally, Macon had called 65 years as a goal. There should continue to be special regulations for people who started working very early and for those in particularly strenuous jobs. At the same time, the minimum pension is to be increased to 1,200 euros.

The government also wants to ensure that more seniors than before remain in the workforce. At the end of 2021, only 36 percent of those aged 60 to 64 were employed.

The draft law is to be presented in the cabinet next week and then debated in the National Assembly.