Emmanuel Macron has defended this Wednesday the pension reform, approved last week by decree, and has ruled out that he will give in to pressure from the street not to promulgate it. The French president, under great pressure due to the incessant protests and strikes, has been interviewed in the winter garden of the Élysée by two journalists from the television channels TF1 and France 2.
“It is not a pleasure, it is a necessity for the country,” said the head of state about a reform that plans to extend the legal retirement age by two years, from the current 62 to 64. According to Macron, the more wait to adapt the system to the demographic reality, “the more it will degrade.” The president relativized the value of the polls and insisted on his duty to always choose the general interest of the country and not the polls.
The head of the Élysée recalled that the reform has followed a “democratic path”, has been discussed for 175 hours in Parliament and was approved by the Senate. Now all that is missing is the approval of the Constitutional Council, which could make some modifications, in principle minor. Macron hopes to enact the law before the end of the year.
The President of the Republic reiterated his confidence in the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, although he did not do so with excessive enthusiasm. She gives him a mandate to try to “broaden the majority,” rebuild a government program and talk with unions about measures to improve conditions for older workers and push for a pay increase for veteran employees.
The head of state made another announcement to try to ingratiate himself with the unions, whose first reaction to the interview was very negative. Macron was in favor of asking large companies that have obtained an extraordinary profit to also make an “extraordinary contribution”, making their employees part of those profits. He did not specify figures.
The president does not reproach himself, except “for not having managed to convince him of the need for reform.” Macron stressed that the pressure of the masses has no legitimacy, and evoked what happened with the occupation of the Capitol in Washington by Trump supporters and similar events in Brasilia after the defeat of Bolsonaro.
Macron’s intervention occurred on the eve of a new day of mobilizations and strikes throughout France. Every day there are blockades -of refineries and public roads- and spontaneous demonstrations in the big cities that usually end in riots.
