France’s government wants to raise the retirement age. There is plenty of criticism for this on the street. Again there are mass protests and a big strike. Can they bring down the project?
The pension reform is considered one of the most important projects of French President Emmanuel Macron – but his plans are met with incomprehension, anger and protest among the population. Mass demonstrations and a major strike are announced again for today. Is the liberal president facing a new protest movement that could endanger him? Is reform really a necessary evil, as the government portrays it?
Almost two-thirds of French people spoke out against the reform project in surveys. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 1.27 million people took part in strikes and protests last week, and according to the CGT union there were 2.8 million participants – more than on the first day of action two weeks earlier. “People feel badly treated by the government at the moment,” says protest researcher Johannes Maria Becker from the University of Marburg. The movement could stop. Macron should not be too sure.
The reform plans provide for gradually raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. In Germany, however, one should not be fooled by the supposedly low age information. Not everyone in France retires at 62. The pension does not become deductible until long enough has been paid in or the employee reaches the age of 67.
Minimum pension should be raised
But the government doesn’t just want to tighten the retirement age. The increase in the necessary payment period for a full pension, which was decided years ago, is to be accelerated. In addition, individual pension systems with privileges for certain occupational groups are to be abolished. The minimum pension is to rise to around 1,200 euros.
Official forecasts, which show deficits in the pension fund for the coming years, suggest that a change is needed. Referring to the numbers, Macron and the government insist that the retirement age needs to be raised. Monika Queisser, social policy expert at the industrialized nations organization OECD, points out: “In every pay-as-you-go system there are basically three parameters: the retirement age, the amount of the pension and the contribution rate. In addition, countries can of course also provide tax subsidies, as is the case in Germany with the federal subsidy .”
Queisser explains that the contribution rate in France is already high at around 28 percent of gross wages, and that pensions are forecast to fall in the long term. “Increasing the retirement age also means more contributions to pension funds and reduces expenditure on pensions, since these are only paid out later.”
Macron seems unfazed by protests
According to Becker, the fact that the pension plans are bringing so many people onto the streets is also due to a different culture of demonstration that harbors a completely incalculable dynamic. “In France, in this central country, people say, if something doesn’t go well, the state doesn’t work, those up there. Here in Germany, people say, ‘Oh damn, what have I done wrong in my life? “” Accordingly, there are plenty of demands in France that the state should spend more money on the pension fund.
The protests are having an effect. Even in Macron’s group there are MPs with reservations, as well as in the conservative Républicains, with whose votes the government hopes to get the reform through parliament. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne is now trying to persuade the Républicains to say yes with concessions. The debate in the National Assembly began on Monday. After its completion, it will be the turn of the Senate as the second chamber of Parliament.
Macron lets Borne fight the battles. He seems unimpressed by the protests. Maybe because he won’t be able to stand for re-election after his second term expires anyway. Perhaps because, despite a number of crises and mass protests, he was re-elected in his first term of office and now believes he is immune to all protests. Still, should the reform project fail, Macron would be weakened for his remaining four years in office.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
