In Paris today, many people again took to the streets against the planned pension reform. According to the police, around 12,000 people demonstrated, the organizers spoke of 150,000 participants. “Resistance” or “We are here, even if Macron doesn’t want it,” chanted the demonstrators in the French capital. President Emmanuel Macron wants to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
Among the demonstrators was left-wing populist Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of La France Insoumise party, who called out to Macron: “Damn you for wanting to turn our entire existence into a commodity.”
Not first try
Macron had already tried in 2019 to simplify the complicated French pension system and enforce that French people work longer. This led to the longest wave of protests since the student revolt in 1968. The reform project was then initially put on hold because of the pandemic.
Now the government wants to raise the retirement age to 64. Originally, Macron had given 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.
The draft law is to be presented in the cabinet on Monday and then debated in the National Assembly.