Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in France today to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform. Reuters reports. In this way the unions want to maintain pressure on the French government.
Unions today hope to match the mass strikes of January 19, when more than a million people took to the streets to protest against raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.
“I expect a lot of people, and I have to,” said union chief Laurent Berger of the CFDT, France’s largest trade union. ‘A total of around 250 demonstrations are planned. It is necessary because the government despises us. So far, no response has come to our protests.
I tremble
France has one of the lowest retirement ages of all OECD countries (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, ed), and the French population is very reluctant to give up this advantage. However, French President Macron is sticking to the reform, because it is necessary to keep the pension system healthy.
The opposition, on the other hand, thinks differently, proposing the presentation of thousands of amendments to complicate the debate. The ultimate goal: to force the government to pass the pension reform without a parliamentary vote through a decree, which would worsen Macron’s mandate for the rest of his reign.
The protests will be staged over a weekend for the first time today. So people don’t have to stop work or take time off to participate.
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
