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France braced on Monday for another day of mass protests and strike action, taking place on Tuesday, January 31, over pension review proposals pushed by President Emmanuel Macron, with the government and its left-wing opponents trading blame for the interruptions that are foreseen during the day of strikes and mobilizations.
Some 1.1 million people took to the streets on the first day of the strike on January 19, according to official statistics, the largest demonstrations since the last major round of pension reform under right-wing President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010.
A police source told AFP that security forces expected similarly sized crowds on Tuesday, January 31, at 240 demonstrations across the country, as well as strike-related disruptions to transport, schools and other services.
With unions warning of more stoppages to come, the strikes represent a major test for Macron as he seeks to pursue a showcase policy for his second term.
Mathilde Panot, a deputy from the left-wing La Francia Insumisa (LFI) party, accused Macron and his ministers of being responsible for the strikes that will paralyze public transport and other services.
“They are the ones who want to sow chaos in the country,” he told ‘BFM’ television, while criticizing Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin’s comments over the weekend as a “provocation.”
Darmanin, a close ally of Macron, said on Saturday that left-wing political parties “only want to fuck the country” and defended “laziness and champagne socialism.”
Macron’s reputation
The most controversial part of the proposed reform is the increase in the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64, the lowest of the major European economies.
Macron, who included this change in his electoral program last year, affirms that it is necessary to guarantee the future financing of the pension system, which is expected to enter a deficit in the coming years.
The opposition points out that the system is currently balanced, noting that the head of the independent Pension Advisory Council recently told parliament that “pension spending is not out of control, it is relatively contained.”
For Macron, who has repeatedly told the French they “have to work harder”, failure to succeed with his proposal would severely undermine his credibility for the remainder of his second and final term, analysts say.
The government headed by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has indicated that there is room for maneuver in some measures, since parliamentary committees began to examine the bill on Monday.
Borne has suggested that conditions could be improved for people who started working very young, or for mothers who took career breaks to care for their children, and people who invested in continuing education.
But the age limit of 64 is not debatable, he said on Sunday, calling it “non-negotiable.”
Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT union, warned that the government “cannot remain deaf to this formidable mobilization.”
“Listen, listen, listen to this discontent,” he told France 2 television.
parliamentary battle
Most Paris metro and suburban train services will be severely restricted on Tuesday, while intercity travel will be disrupted with only one in three high-speed TGV trains running, according to the company that runs the network. the same, the SNCF.
Air transport will be less affected: Air France will cancel one in ten short and medium-haul flights, while long-haul flights will not be affected.
On international Thalys and Eurostar trains only minor disturbances are expected.
About half of early childhood and primary school teachers will go on strike, according to the main teachers’ union, Snuipp-FSU.
Macron and his allies are also facing fights in Parliament, as well as on the street.
The left-wing opposition has presented more than 7,000 amendments to the legislative project in an attempt to slow down its parliamentary process.
Macron’s centrist allies, without an absolute majority in Parliament, will need the votes of conservatives to approve the pension plan.
A new poll by the opinion group OpinionWay published in the financial daily Les Echos on Monday showed that 61 percent of French people supported the protest movement, an increase of three percentage points since January 12.
*With AFP; adapted from its original English version
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