French Protests Push for Withdrawal of Macron’s Pension Plan

Traffic, trash pickup, and university campuses in Paris were all affected by protests against French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to force a bill raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 through parliament without a vote. Opponents of the change remained adamant that the government back down.

University students left lectures to join the strikes as sanitation workers demonstrated their resolve by blocking a garbage collecting facility that houses Europe’s largest incinerator. People were urged to leave workplaces like as factories, schools, and refineries by leaders of the powerful CGT union.

The president’s detractors have been urged to march on the parliament on Friday at 18:00 (17:00GMT), according to a number of organizations, including the yellow vest demonstrators who had organized powerful rallies against Macron’s economic policies during his first term.

Macron’s proposal to require French residents to work two more years before being eligible to receive full pensions infuriated more than just union leaders. Later on Friday, opposition parties were anticipated to begin the formalities for a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne-led administration. The vote would probably happen early the next week.

On Thursday, Macron gave Borne the go-ahead to utilize a rare constitutional power to force the wildly unpopular pension measure through the National Assembly, the lower chamber of the French parliament, without a vote.

His calculated risk enraged unions, numerous individuals, and opposition MPs. In the Plaza de la Concorde, which confronts the National Assembly building, thousands of people gathered in protest on Thursday. Police forces charged the protesters in waves as darkness fell to evacuate the area. Afterwards, small groups lit street fires as they went through the posh Champs-Elysees area.

Similar incidents reportedly occurred in multiple other towns, including Lyon and the southern port city of Marseille, as well as Rennes and Nantes in eastern France, where storefronts and bank fronts were reportedly broken.

310 persons were detained overnight, according to Gérald Darmanin, the French Interior Minister, who spoke to radio station RTL on Friday. According to Darmanin, Paris was where the majority of the arrests — 258 — were made.

Further gatherings and protest marches would be held in the coming days, according to the labor unions that had organized strikes and marches against raising the retirement age. They argued that the retirement change was harsh, unfair, and unreasonable for the working world.

Régis Vieceli, a CGT union spokesman, told The Associated Press on Friday that the only way to force employers to back down is to fill the streets with protestors and refuse to work. We won’t give up, he continued.

In order to increase France’s economic competitiveness and prevent the pension system from going broke, Macron has made reforming the pension system a top goal for his second term. Similar to many wealthier countries, France has higher life expectancy and lower birth rates.

Just minutes before a scheduled vote in the National Assembly, where the law had no certainty of winning a majority support, Macron made the decision to use the exceptional power during a Cabinet meeting. The law was approved by the Senate earlier on Thursday.The resignation of the administration was sought by opposition legislators. The pension measure would be deemed passed if the anticipated vote of no confidence was unsuccessful. If it is approved, it would also put a stop to Macron’s retirement reform proposal and result in the first resignation of the government since 1962. If Macron so chooses, Borne may be reappointed, and a new Cabinet would be chosen.

The majority of seats in the National Assembly, where a resolution of no-confidence also needs majority backing, are held by Macron‘s centrist coalition. Legislators on the far-left and the left are adamant about supporting it.

Republican party leaders have stated that their conservative group will not support the measure. While some party MPs could deviate from that stance, it is anticipated that they will be the minority.