A new mass protest against the pension reform increases the pressure on Macron

The pulse for the pension reform intensifies in France.

The massive mobilization of this Tuesday, the second in less than two weeks, puts the president, Emmanuel Macron, before a dilemma: or a lasting divorce with a majority of the French if he maintains the plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.

Or the resignation of his project-lighthouse, the mother of all reforms, "essential", in his opinion, to preserve the social model.

Her legacy is at stake.

Although the follow-up to the strike has been less than that of January 19, the first day of mobilizations, and the country was not at all blocked;

the presence in the demonstrations increased throughout the country.

Above all, in medium-sized and small cities, one of the focuses of the protests, as they were in the

revolt in 2018.

For Macron it is a warning.

The rejection of his project to make the French work two more years is broad and transversal.

Although the marches were dominated by trade unionists, there were also young people and retirees, mostly left-wing voters, although some were also on the extreme right.

It was a cast of the middle classes who fear, for themselves or their children, a less comfortable future, and see in their current president the person responsible for an erosion of the welfare state.

Pressure is mounting on Macron, who insists on sticking to his plans, and on the National Assembly, which this week began examining the bill.

The problem for the president is that, since the June legislative elections, he lacks an absolute majority, despite having the first parliamentary group.

Without the votes of Los Republicanos, the party of the moderate right, it will be far from the 289 deputies that mark the threshold of the majority.

The march in Paris, between the Place d'Italia and the Invalides monument, took place in a festive atmosphere for almost the entire route.

In the end, clashes between part of the protesters and the police ended with 18 arrests.

The Ministry of the Interior had deployed 11,000 police officers throughout France.

French riot police push back protesters in Nantes during demonstrations on Tuesday.

LOIC VENANCE (AFP)

feeling of injustice

Some conclusions can be drawn from interviews with protesters.

There was an extended claim of the right to rest.

The sense of injustice—the idea that the most vulnerable will have to make more sacrifices than the richest—was also palpable.

Finally, another argument returned again and again: the pension reform strikes a sensitive chord in France —it affects something as intimate as work, leisure, old age—, but the protest goes further.

A host of discomforts crystallize in pensions: due to the deterioration of public services, due to inflation and the loss of purchasing power, due to the feeling of abandonment on the part of sectors of the population.

"Raise wages, not retirement age," read one billboard.

Another said: "If you put us 64, we repeat a May of 68."

More: "There is no alternative: retirement at 60."

And another, more elaborate: “Macron, at 45 years old your work has made you blind and deaf.

And at 64?

Resignation!

No to work that ruins health”.

This sign was carried by Claudie Thisy, a 61-year-old woman who works part-time helping disabled children.

Until she was 55 years old, she was a flight attendant for Air France.

When she changed her job to librarian, she lost a third of her salary.

Now, she earns three times less than she did when she was a flight attendant.

She explains that this reform will not affect her, although, being able to retire in a few months, at 62, she will do so at 64 to collect her full pension.

When asked if the protests will make Macron give up his plan, Thisy replies: "In France you have to shout to be heard."

For her, it is a question of democracy: the deputies who debate the reform in the National Assembly should take into account the majority opinion of the French.

And she does not buy Macron's argument, according to which the reform is legitimate, since it was one of his promises in the campaign that led him to re-election in May 2022 against the far-right Marine Le Pen.

She voted for Macron.

“She doesn't understand that many of us voted against Le Pen, not for him,” she says.

"There was no other option."

Like many protesters, Thisy is looking forward to retiring, explaining how important this issue is in France: "Here, when we work, we work hard, but afterwards we want to enjoy life."

He dreams of traveling to Japan.

"We don't want to work that long," agreed Xavier, 59, an employee in the computer services of the Fleury-Mérogis City Council, a municipality of 10,000 inhabitants near Paris, and a member of the CGT union.

"We're tired," said her wife, Nathalie, 58, who works at a pharmacy where she works on her feet all day.

Both admitted to having voted for Le Pen in the second round of the presidential elections in May, to stop Macron.

Will the protests be enough to change the president's mind?

"Not.

The country must be blocked for 15 days ”, settles Xavier.

And he concludes: "The issue is not just pensions."

New mobilizations on February 7 and 13

The unions, united for the first time in years before the pension reform, called two new mobilization days on Tuesday night, on February 7 and 13.

They feel reinforced by a greater attendance at the demonstrations this Tuesday than at the previous protest, on January 19.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, 1.3 million people left throughout the country (1.2 on January 19);

according to the CGT union, there were 2.5 million (two million in previous demonstrations).

The dance of figures is considerable, but one thing is clear: France is facing one of the most massive movements in years.

At the same time, the strike this time had less follow-up.

In schools and high schools, 26% of teachers continued the strike, according to the Ministry of National Education, 12 points less than on January 19.

In the public railway company SNCF, the follow-up was 36.5%, according to the unions, compared to 46.3% on the previous day of protest.

Among public servants of the State, 19.4% went on strike, compared to 28% on January 19, according to the Government.

At the TotalEnergies refineries, which partially blocked France in the autumn to obtain a wage increase, there were between 75% and 100% strikers on Tuesday morning, according to the CGT union.

One objective of the protests is to put pressure on the deputies of the National Assembly, who every day can see in their districts the rejection caused by the reform.

If a handful of macronistas and conservatives change their minds and vote against it, things could get complicated for the government.

Macron has suggested that if a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne were successful, he would dissolve the National Assembly and call new legislative elections.

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