The French government approved its controversial pension reform at the Council of Ministers on Monday, showing its determination to do everything without giving in to the main demands of the unions, who intend to increase mobilization against President Emmanuel Macron’s flagship project.
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At the end of the Council, Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt sealed any regression on the extension of the statutory retirement age to 64, which was at the heart of the dispute.
“Returning to this point would mean forgoing the return to equilibrium of the system,” he explained.
Shifting the statutory retirement age from 62 to 64 is unanimously opposed by the unions, by the majority of the opposition and, according to polls, by a large majority of French people.
After a first day of strikes and demonstrations, in which between one and two million people took to the streets on Thursday, and before the next mobilization aimed at the 31 target: a parliamentary debate on whether the controversial project could come into force in the summer.
The head of state estimated on Sunday he had already shown “openness” to the program for his second five-year term, which initially included his 65th birthday.
He wished “that the government and the parliamentarians” could “adjust” the text.
Before we get more inflexible: “The needs” are “known” and “I believe we need to be able to move forward now”.
His ministers therefore take turns to ensure they are ready for “dialogue” to “enrich” the text… but only marginally.
“Every time an amendment allows us to improve the text without giving up the return to equilibrium in 2030 or the fundamentals of the reform, we will of course be open to it,” Mr Dussopt said during a meeting on Monday. very technical presentation without advancing any pointers in that direction.
Not enough to persuade the opponents of reform – all parties except the right, the Republicans – who tirelessly call for the total rollback of “ageing” policies.
La France insoumise (far left) promised “a determined opposition”, while the far-right Rallye National party proposed a “referendum” as the “top exit”.
The unions, for their part, hope to be able to further intensify the mobilization. “We hope to be even stronger on the 31st”, warned the Secretary General of the CGT Philippe Martinez, stressing that “until then initiatives will take place every day in the companies and in the departments”.
Energy unionists warned Monday they would not refrain from any method against the reform, from free for some customers to further production cuts.
“Free” establishments are becoming more apparent, as in Marseille in southern France, where the union wants to lower the bill of traders whose electricity bills are rising like bakers.
Some of these Robins Hood actions could affect schools and hospitals during the week, said Fabrice Coudour, federal secretary of the FNME-CGT.
As for the leader of the reformist union, Laurent Berger, he regretted the form chosen by the executive to consider his bill: a social security amending budget, allowing the debates to be limited in time and using the weapon of 49.3 that allows it the government to assume its responsibility and allow a text to be adopted without a parliamentary vote.
“In this social climate, you cannot escape this pension text,” he argued on France 5.
France is one of the European countries with the lowest statutory retirement age, although pension systems are not fully comparable. In Germany, Belgium or Spain it is 65 years, in Denmark 67 years, according to the Center for European and International Social Security Liaison, a French public body.
The government has decided to increase working hours in response to the financial deterioration of pension funds and the aging of the population.
He defends his project by presenting it as a “carrier of social progress”, particularly through the valorization of small pensions.