‘Do you think I enjoy doing this reform?’: France’s Macron breaks silence after overriding parliament
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Loading... - Nicole Gabe
- 23 Mar 2023
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French President Emmanuel Macron broke his silence following widespread protests and strikes over his government’s forcing of pension changes through parliament without a vote.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday staunchly defended his reforms to the pension system, but said the government could have communicated its policy better.
“Do you think I enjoy doing this reform? No,” he said in a televised interview with channels TF1 and France 2, his first public statement to the country since forcing the bill through parliament without a vote.
The move has intensified widespread protests across the country that have resulted in hundreds of people being detained after clashes with police.
“I could sweep the dust under the rug like many before,” Macron said, continuing that the system was no longer balanced and the number of retirees was due to be 20 million by the 2030s. “The longer we wait the worse the situation will get.”
Macron said the bill needed to be implemented by the end of the year. It still needs to be reviewed by France’s constitutional court.
If passed, the key changes will see the national retirement age raised from 62 to 64 and the number of years required for someone to work before receiving a full pension go to 43.
Unions fiercely oppose the bill, which they argue disproportionally impacts manual workers, women and lower-paid workers while corporations and the ultra-wealthy have benefited under Macron’s business-friendly reforms.
Strikes have been carried out by teachers, transport workers and refinery workers, who have blocked fuel deliveries in some areas. Industrial action by garbage collectors has led to mounds of trash piling up in Paris in a striking symbol of the discontent. A major strike and protests are set to take place on Thursday.
Macron said Wednesday he understood there was a “sense of injustice” and that working people felt they were the ones being asked to put in more effort while businesses profited.
“There is this degree of cynicism when we have large corporations generating super profits and using that money to buy back their own shares,” he said, according to a France24 translation. Read More…
