An interprofessional demonstration against the pension reform was held in Paris. According to the unions, 500,000 protesters were present in the march. (Photo: Benjamin Polge / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP)
France is currently being rocked again by a series of protests and riots directed against the government’s reform of the retirement age. In many cities there have been protests for weeks, especially by trade unionists and leftists, which are often violent.
There is apparently broad support for the protests in the population and it is in danger of degenerating into something comparable to the yellow jacket protests of 2018. Both the extreme left and the extreme right are outspoken against the reforms and want to bring down the government. It is of course also a welcome opportunity for everyone, who for whatever reason is opposed to the government, to get on the bandwagon.
Many governments have tried to reform the pension legislation in order to reduce the huge public debt. France faces the same demographic challenges as all Western countries, which makes the real intention of the pension system unworkable: there are fewer and fewer working young people due to the falling birth rate who have to take care of more and more retirees. People are also getting much older on average than before, which means that they also have to live longer and longer on pension money.
Moreover, the employer contributions, especially in the public service, are quite high. France’s retirement age is one of the lowest in Europe, currently 62, which will be raised to 64 under the new law. As a comparison: in Germany it is 65, in Britain 66, in Norway even 67 years.
The state pensions also cause significant and especially rising costs for the budget. In France, the cost of the pensions is already 14% of the entire gross domestic product, only in Greece and Italy is it even more. However, raising the retirement age is not the only change. The current system is complicated and very decentralized and also creates all kinds of inequalities in that some can retire early and certain occupational groups have special privileges. The aim is to simplify the system and make it more streamlined and fair. Numerous attempts by previous governments have been called off due to massive resistance.
This time, however, President Emmanuel Macron was adamant that he would implement the reform through his prime minister, Elizabeth Borne. Macron and Borne’s party, Renaissancehowever, due to several splits, no longer has its own majority in either of the two chambers of parliament (consisting of the upper house, the Senate, and the lower house, the National Assembly) and Borne had to convince other parties to support the reform.
First was the vote in the Senate, where the conservative Republicans are the largest party and who are also in favor of the reform. Here the bill was passed by 193 to 114 votes. But with the vote in the National Assembly, where the ruling party and alliance partners have only 250 out of 557 seats and could not count on the closed support of the Republicans, the government feared they would lose the vote.
Therefore, no vote was allowed, but an obscure constitutional article was used which allows the government to push through certain cardinal laws without a vote. This led to further dissension and anger and the opposition introduced a motion of no confidence in the government, which was narrowly defeated, with 299 to 278 votes.
Although many members of the opposition were incensed at the avoidance of the debate and vote, some voted against the motion of no confidence to prevent total chaos and a possible dissolution of parliament. Unless the constitutional court sticks a stick in it, the retirement reform is now law. However, the riots and protests continue.
