According to Pas, another reason why the pension protest has not turned into a general social conflagration is that the French are quickly feeling a strike in their wallets. “Especially in these times of rising prices.” Pas does not call the current outcome the result of Macron’s alleged strategic insights, government circles were very uncertain about the outcome.
“He shot himself in the foot”
The diversity of the participants in the protests was remarkable: both the elderly and the young took part, but also – very unusually – the moderate unions from the center joined the communist union. “We haven’t seen that very often in the past.”
Apples with pears
According to Pas, the fact that the French dissatisfaction with the two-year increase in the retirement age is viewed with contempt from abroad is not justified. He underlines how much the Dutch and French situations differ from each other. ‘France has no state pensions, pensions are on average slightly lower than in the Netherlands and many French people are really having trouble making ends meet. In practice, they often work a little longer to receive a full pension.’
According to Pas, Macron’s intervention is necessary to restore the system to health. ‘We have to add money every year and pensions make up a fairly large part of the French national budget. 16 percent is really huge.’
Soap
Incidentally, the ‘pension soap’ is not yet a race for Macron. Not only is May 1 approaching (in France ‘a classic strike day’), another referendum has been called by the opposition and has yet to be considered by the Constitutional Council. This Conseil Constitutionnel approved the raising of the retirement age last Friday.
Listen to the full conversation with Niek Pas here
Macron passed his legislation without the support of parliament, where he lacks a majority. To this end he used the infamous 49-3 law, which means that a law does not have to be put to a vote in parliament. And although left-wing governments have also used this option, according to Pas, it is inconceivable that Macron will use it a second time. “He sort of shot himself in the foot, because obviously it’s completely unthinkable for that to happen again like this with the legislation.”
Gear
Macron will address the people tonight, the PA expects him to announce even more reforms such as health education, the labor market, defense and tax cuts. ‘This is a huge package, it is very decisive.’ According to Pas, this is not surprising and Macron announced everything when he was elected in 2017, but the yellow vests and the Covid pandemic have put a spoke in the works.