In an interview published by Politico on Wednesday, former French President Francois Hollande called current President Emmanuel Macron's draft pension reform "unfair and brutal."

On January 10, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne unveiled a highly controversial pension overhaul aimed at raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030. 

"Did the president choose the right time? Given the succession of crises and with elevated inflation, the French want to be reassured. Did the government propose the right reform? I don't think so either — it's seen as unfair and brutal. But now that a parliamentary process has been set into motion, the executive will have to strike a compromise or take the risk of going all the way and raising the level of anger," Hollande told Politico.

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Since January 19, unions have been organizing mass demonstrations all across France to protest the draft reform.

Eight main French trade unions staged the first statewide protest against the change, which drew over 2 million people in January.

At the time, over 200 strikes were organized across the country, with the largest demonstrations being in Paris, Marseilles, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille, and Nantes.

The leading CGT union said on January 31 that about 2.8 million people took part in nationwide protests against Macron's reform. 

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