Conflict Alerts # 591, 16 February 2023
Madhura Mahesh In the news
On 16 February, around 1.3 million protestors took to the streets of France to protest for the fifth day against new pension reforms. This was the lowest turnout since the protests began. According to the French Interior Ministry, 963,000 protesters protested against the pension reforms on the fourth day of protests. The CGT Union said that around 500,000 people alone protested in Paris, higher than the number of protesters on 7 February.
The protests are led by eight main unions who said that if the government remains "deaf" to their demands, a major strike would be called on 7 March which would "bring France to a standstill.” CGT Union leader Philippe Martinez, said "the ball is in the court of the president and the government to determine if the movement intensifies and hardens or if they take into account the current mobilisation.”
On the same day, Paris Orly Airport air traffic controllers staged an unannounced strike which led to several flight cancellations. The unions representing Paris RATP public transport system workers called for rolling strikes from 7 March.
Issues at large
First, Macron’s proposed pension reform. On 10 January, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne introduced the new pension reforms to “balance” the pension system. The pension reforms were featured in President Emmanuel Macron presidential election campaign and are based on the September 2022 Pension Advisory Council report. Borne outlined that the new reforms would raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030, increasing the age by three months per generation. The reforms will also accelerate the Touraine reform implementation which increases the required years of service from 42 to 43 years by 2027. Borne also announced that the government will be increasing the minimum pension wage to EUR 1,200.
Second, the Pension Advisory Council report. In September 2022, France’s Pension Advisory Council released a report where it outlined that the pension finances will decrease “significantly” between 2023 and 2027. It added that the pension system will reach a deficit of around four per cent of GDP or more than EUR 10 billion per year. At the same time, the report outlined that the system recorded a surplus in 2021 and 2022 with the latter amounting to EUR 3.2 billion. It said: “The results of this report do not support the claim that pensions spending is out of control.”
Three, previous protests over pension reforms. Since 10 January, there have been three protests with the first protest held on 19 January. On 19 January, the first day of protest took place nationwide with the unions saying that around 2 million people participated in the protests. Subsequent protests took place on 31 January and 07 February where the unions saw an increase in the number of protesters in Paris. Previous attempts to introduce pension reforms in 1993, 2003, 2010 and 2019 also witnessed protests. In 2019, Macron announced plans to reform the pension system which resulted in a protest by 30 unions from 5 December to 25 January 2020 after which it was shelved due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In perspective
First, France's ageing population. Since the beginning of the 21 century, France’s population has been ageing, thereby increasing the burden on the youth. The protests saw increased participation by the youth. These new reforms will further increase the burden on the youth and also on the aged population who are still in the workforce.
Second, a larger impact on France’s social justice system. One of Macron’s reforms includes cost-cutting which will aid in “balancing” the pension system. This will also bring in additional revenue which can be used to finance other projects in Macron in line with the EU. Many protesters have questioned the impact of these reforms on Frances’s justice system.