The looming fight over pensions is one of the biggest tests Macron has faced since he was re-elected last year. During the presidential campaign, the French president vowed to reform France’s state pensions system and bring it in line with European neighbors such as Spain and Germany where retirement age is 65 to 67 years old. Official predictions show that the finances of France’s state pensions system are balanced in the short term but will go into deficit in the long term.
“The danger for [Macron] is that the country becomes a mess and people feel it’s the fault of the government. There’s inflation, difficulties for small businesses, and now we’ll be adding strikes, demonstrations, train cancellations,” said Jeanbart.
Among the potentially more troubling fallouts for the government would be the emergence of an unpredictable movement similar to the fiery Yellow Vest movement in 2018 and 2019, which turned violent and forced Macron to backtrack on a green tax fuel bill.
stiff opposition from trade unions and swathes of the French public.
Demographics at work here. Not enough young workers to fill the coffers. I can definitely understand the allure of the pension from a personal standpoint. But I much, much prefer the IRA system, where all the money is legally mine. Its a lot more work for me. But less OVERALL risk in the long term.
Well, that really puts a damper on plans we have in March for a trip.
Any idea when these actions are expected to rile people up? Article didn’t seem to mention a timeline.
“It was a return expected by some, feared by others. According to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, 4,700 people demonstrated throughout France on Saturday 7 January during the Yellow Vests demonstration. According to these government figures, there were 2,000 participants in Paris, and 2,700 in the regions. In total, 58 actions were recorded throughout France.”
It was a very weak protest, but this might be only the begining.
If I were you, I´d choose Spain instead: better weather, cheaper prices, friendlier people.
And it has been stubbornly so for over 40 years. This IMF paper from 1994 has some suggestions:
Some of the actions the authors suggest are reducing the duration and generosity of unemployment benefits, reducing the very high employers social security taxes and reducing increases in the minimum wage.