Hundreds of thousands demonstrate in France against pension reform New classified material discovered on Pence and Trump

In France, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated again on Saturday in various cities against President Emmanuel Macron’s planned pension reform. For the fourth time, unions have called for protests against the center government’s plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

According to the Interior Ministry, 963,000 people took part in the rallies across the country and unions spoke of 2.5 million participants. A turbulent debate about the controversial reform has been raging in parliament for a week now.

A previously unannounced strike in connection with the pension protests caused a nuisance at Orly airport in Paris on Saturday. From noon, airlines were called upon to cancel half of their departures, the civil aviation authority said.

The unions announced a tougher stance on Saturday in their fight against the reform. On March 7, a general strike should paralyze France completely, and the day after, on International Women’s Day, there is also a strike. Extensive strikes were also announced at the Parisian public transport company. On three previous days of protest, strikes in France had already resulted in work disability.

An imminent deficit in the pension fund

Many people in France are already working past age 62 if they have not paid long enough to receive a full pension when they reach retirement age. In many arduous professions, people could hardly continue to work, say opponents of the reform. In addition, the employees wanted to be able to enjoy their well-earned retirement and not put their health to work.

Macron justifies the reform with a looming deficit in the pension fund. As the population ages, workers would have to pay for an increasing number of retirees with their premiums. In order to keep the pension level stable, the population would have to work more. Critics question the government’s calculations, saying the state must find other sources of funding to balance the pension system.

But the government does not only want to tighten the retirement age. The increase in the necessary payment period for a full pension, which was decided years ago, must be accelerated. In addition, individual pension systems with privileges for certain occupational groups will be abolished. The minimum pension will increase to around 1,200 euros.

Macron’s important project

Pension reform is considered one of President Macron’s most important projects. During the corona pandemic, a first attempt to implement the reform was aborted, even then there were massive protests and strikes. A number of presidents before Macron had tried with varying degrees of success to reform France’s pension system – widespread protests and strikes were certain.

Now that Macron’s camp no longer has an absolute majority in parliament, it hopes to push through the reform with the help of conservative Republicans, who have announced their support. Some MPs – even from Macron’s group – still have reservations.

(dsc/sda/dpa)