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The country lives this Thursday, April 13, the twelfth day of protests against the pension reform. The demonstrations take place one day before the resolution of the Constitutional Council on the validity of the bill and on whether or not to accept a referendum on citizenship that could repeal it. However, the unions have already said that, whatever the court’s ruling, they will continue to fight until the increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64 is overturned.
The French do not seem willing to give up. This Thursday, April 13, the twelfth day of protests began in the country against the pension reform promoted by the Government of Emmanuel Macron, which plans to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
One day before the Constitutional Council pronounces on the legality of the reform, the unions call for a show of force in the streets. With no garbage collection service in Paris, strikes at refineries and blockades of river traffic on the Rhine River, the protesters reminded the president and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne that a large majority of French people oppose the measure.
“This is not the last day of the strike. Macron must withdraw this law, or he will not be able to govern the country,” Sophie Binet, the new leader of the CGT union, told protesters on the outskirts of Paris.
Now, the next objective in the union struggle is to try to get the Constitutional Council to block the reform alleging lack of constitutionality. But experts say this is an unlikely scenario.
“Everyone must accept the decision of the Constitutional Council”
If the Council gives its approval, the Government will be able to promulgate the law -perhaps with some modifications-. If so, the Executive hopes that the court’s decision will put an end to the protests and the decline of the already damaged image of President Macron.
“Everyone must accept the decision of the Constitutional Council,” said Olivier Véran, government spokesman, during his public speech this Thursday, in a clear allusion to the protesters.
Despite the fact that in recent weeks Macron has refused to meet with union leaders, he has assured that he will organize a meeting with them after the Council’s decision to start working on other proposals, an “insufficient” initiative, according to the CGT. And it is that, for the workers’ organizations, without the withdrawal of the pension reform on the table, “there is nothing to talk about”.
“The workers of the incinerators, the garbage collectors, are on strike until further notice, until the withdrawal of the pension reform,” said CGT unionist Loic Gefrotin, on pickets at another garbage treatment plant in the region of Paris, in Issy-les-Moulineaux.
However, despite the discontent, the strength of the demonstrations has diminished with the passage of time since last January. By this Thursday, the authorities expect between 400,000 and 600,000 people to take to the streets across the country, a significantly lower number than the almost 1.3 million who protested at the height of the mobilizations in March, after the anger unleashed by the application on 49.3, with which the Government approved the law without the support of Parliament.
Political scientists have highlighted the possible consequences of this widespread discontent, which could have long-term consequences, such as a boost to the extreme right. Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally coalition and the most visible face of the extreme right in France, has already taken advantage of this discomfort to promote her political project.
“I am not very optimistic with the decision of the Constitutional Council. But what do you want me to do? Burn cars? I tell the French something very simple: Vote for the National Group,” Le Pen said during an interview on the television channel ‘BFMTV’.
Macron and his administration argue that the law is essential to ensure that the pension system does not go bankrupt. However, the unions do not see it in the same way: they assure that there are other more progressive means to guarantee the health of the system, such as increasing taxes on the richest or making structural changes. And they are not the only ones who defend this position, some experts from the Government itself defend these measures and see the pension reform as “unnecessary”.
With AFP, Reuters and local media
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