Approval rate of Macron, Borne fall to record lows over pension reform

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
22 Jan 22:45

65% of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the French head of state's actions in January, which marks an increase of 3 points compared to the previous month.

French President Emmanuel Macron and French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne (AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne's approval ratings fell to record lows this month according to an IFOP poll published on Sunday by French magazine Le Journal du Dimanche.

The survey was conducted from January 12-19 among 1,963 French residents over 18. The statistical margin of error is between 1% and 2.3%.

65% of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the French head of state's actions in January, which marks an increase of 3 points compared to the previous month.

Moreover, 34% said they were satisfied with his performance compared to 36% the month before.

Not only this marks Macron's lowest level of popularity since February 2020, but Borne's approval ratings have also fell to their lowest since she assumed the premiership in May 2022.

64% said they were unhappy with her performance, up from 59% in December 2022.

Earlier this month, Borne announced the drafting of a controversial pension reform that the government plans to adopt this year.

The draft has sparked nationwide outrage for its contents, which include raising the retirement age by three months a year from September 1, 2023.

By 2030, it will cease decreasing once the retirement age reaches 64.

Since January 19, trade unions have been carrying out massive strikes to protest the pension reform, numbering 200 across major cities which include Lyon, Toulouse, Marseilles, Lilles, Nantes, and Paris.

To add insult to injury, Macron announced on Friday the proposal to allocate a huge chunk of public expenditures to boost the military in 2024-2030.

Macron's plan essentially involves an increase of 413 billion euros ($446 billion) to the army in 2024-2030, up from 295 billion euros in the previous budget.

A pretext for suggesting such radical measures is that the head of state had scheduled several reforms prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, but their coming to being now has sparked strikes of a scale unseen in the past 30 years.

The purpose of the military boost is intended "to respond to the needs of the armed forces." It would pave the road for the change that France's military requires to deal with prospective challenges, in Macron's view.

"As war is changing, France has and will have armies ready for the perils of the century," he said."We need to do better and do it differently," Macron explained, adding that “after repairing the armed forces, we are going to transform them.”

Likewise, expenditures for military intelligence to shield against cyber attacks will be raised by 60% for the same period. As for air defense, an increase of about 50% is proposed.

By boosting military expenditures, France will be meeting "the expectations of a partner," namely NATO.