French President Emmanuel Macron plans to use a television interview on Wednesday to “calm the situation” and plan changes for the remainder of his term
Friedrich Florin / AFP
For the sixth day in a row, protesters took to the streets France To demonstrate against the pension reform that was finally approved on Tuesday 21st after the two motions against the President Emmanuel Macron Being rejected. The plan shifts from 62 to 64 years by 2030 and requires 43 years (rather than 42 as now) to contribute by 2027 to be eligible for a full pension. Police fired tear gas at a protest when some demonstrators set fire to bins and a motorbike on Place de la Republique square and hurled firecrackers at police. Since last week, protesters in cities across France have been playing cat and mouse with the police, setting fire to dumpsters and barricades while police responded with tear gas and attacked protesters. The decision by Macron and Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne to go through with their plan without submitting it to the National Assembly (lower chamber), where they feared losing they relied on Article 49:3 of the Constitution and overruled the MPs’ vote triggered a wave of spontaneous , some violent protests since last Thursday. The French president intends to use a TV interview on Wednesday to “calm things down” and plan reforms for the remainder of his term, a source who has attended meetings between Macron and key allies said. The French leader is looking to regain the initiative with more reforms in the coming weeks after his government narrowly survived a noconfidence motion over an unpopular pension law on Monday, the source said. Some in Macron’s own camp have warned him against going ahead with his usual dealings amid violent protests and ongoing strikes that have challenged the centrist president’s authority since the “yellow vest” revolt four years ago. At a meeting with his allies, Macron has already anticipated that he will not reform his government, dissolve parliament or put his reform to a referendum, one attendee said.
Groups of young people run through Paris setting fire to dumpsters with one clear tactic: be quick and unpredictable. On Monday evening, the 20th, the majority of the protesters did not seek confrontation with the police, but instead filled the streets with obstacles, whether bicycles, rubbish or burning pallets of rubbish, in order to impede the motorized advance of the security forces. “We’re ‘be water’ like in Hong Kong… Well, or at least we’re trying to be,” explains Romain (pseudonym) on a pedestrian street in central Les Halles, with police behind him. “We have to renew our measures to keep up the pressure,” says the student. The phrase “be water” is a reference to Hong Kong film hero Bruce Lee, whom protesters hugged during the 2019 wave of protests in the former British colony against a suspended extradition bill to China. The protesters claim to have been inspired by this movement to carry out their actions after weeks of massive and peaceful union protests failed to prompt liberal President Emmanuel Macron to withdraw his controversial reform.
Paris: des tensions Place de la République en margin du rassemblement contre la réforme des retreates pic.twitter.com/xLknN1mViJ
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) March 21, 2023
Paris: Live tensions between the protesters and the forces of the ordre près de la place de la République pic.twitter.com/nxuUnFWdxY
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) March 21, 2023
In addition to the law raising one of the lowest retirement ages in the EU, Macron, who was reelected in the second round with farright candidate Marine Le Pen last April, is facing many difficulties implementing his reform program during his second term in office 2027. Observers consider her weakened. Rating agency Mody’s said on Monday that by enforcing its bill by decree it would “make future reforms more difficult to adopt”. The press rated the government’s victory in the noconfidence motion by nine votes “tastes like defeat” and the leftwing newspaper Libération went so far as to guarantee that it had plunged into a “political crisis”. While waiting for the Constitutional Council to announce the decisions on the opposition’s objections to the reform postponing its passage and the request for a referendum, Macron defends that the government is focused on the future and thinking about how it will be these can change the criticized form without an absolute majority of governing.
*With information from international agencies