Friday
March 29, 2024
30 C
Lahore
EditorialPension reform and the French defiance

Pension reform and the French defiance

France is on a standstill. Metro and suburban trains have been disrupted; garbage is piling up on the streets, several fuel stations are short of petrol as refineries are shut, a reactor at a nuclear power plant in southwestern France has been stopped and a third of primary school teachers are on strike. The French have been on protest mode since January ever since President Emmanuel Macron introduced the pension reforms, under which retirement age has been increased from 62 to 64. In fact, the bar of the protests has lately been raised to the next level. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne had invoked article 49:3 of the constitution, which allowed the government to avoid a vote in the Assembly to introduce the pension law.

Trade unions started off with organising peaceful demonstrations, which have now been shifted to impromptu protests. Unrest has been reported from various cities, and attacks on politicians’ constituency offices have increased. The pension reform has left people fuming; they have out rightly rejected it and want the government to withdraw the decision. Macron’s government is facing the biggest domestic crisis in its second term, with protesters and police clashing on almost a daily basis following the introduction of the controversial law. Hundreds have been arrested and hundreds of police officials have been wounded.

The French police’s handling of the protests has come under severe criticism. The Council of Europe has called for protecting peaceful protesters and journalists from police violence and arrest. The council’s human rights commissioner, Dunja Mijatovic, said even if some protesters engaged in “sporadic acts of violence, it cannot justify excessive use of force by agents of the state”. Quoting local and international rights groups, the Washington Post said the French police were using heavy-handed tactics against the protesters. President Macron, however, remains defiant. He had introduced the law through parliament using a special provision.

In a meeting with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, cabinet ministers and senior lawmakers at the Elysee Palace, Macron said the protests raging in the country had nothing to do with the reforms, but he would continue to hold out the hand to the unions. He went on to say that all they had in common “was to target our institutions and security forces”. So precarious is the situation that a state visit to France by Britain’s King Charles III had to be postponed. The French president accused the hard-left France Unbowed party of “carrying out a real project to de-legitimise reasonable order, our institutions and their tools”.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Borne has offered talks to the unions, and if they accept, she might put forward new measures. Reacting to the talks offer, union leaders said they would talk only after the pensions law was withdrawn. One of the leaders said the government should come up with a “very big move on pensions”. Under the present scenario, the standoff between the government and trade unions is not ending anytime soon. With protests and strikes at their peak, various cities have been left crippled. France has been in the grip of protests for the last over two months now. The government cannot afford the stalemate. Sooner or later, it will have to withdraw the unpopular bill, but what’s next for Macron’s Renaissance party.

Subscribe Today

GET EXCLUSIVE FULL ACCESS TO PREMIUM CONTENT

SUPPORT NONPROFIT JOURNALISM

EXPERT ANALYSIS OF AND EMERGING TRENDS IN CHILD WELFARE AND JUVENILE JUSTICE

TOPICAL VIDEO WEBINARS

Get unlimited access to our EXCLUSIVE Content and our archive of subscriber stories.

Top News

More articles