France's Macron contends protested pensions reform

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In rare comments on the subject, French President Emmanuel Macron defended his government's contentious pension reform on Tuesday.

"Everybody has common sense," he told journalists as he toured the fresh meat section of the massive Rungis wholesale food market south of Paris.

"On the whole, people know that everybody has to work a little longer on average, otherwise we won't be able to properly fund our pensions," he said.

"If we don't create wealth, we cannot then distribute it," he added.

Hundreds of thousands of people have gone on strike or taken to the streets to protest the proposed changes on five consecutive occasions in recent weeks.

These include raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, as well as increasing the number of years of payments required to obtain a full pension.

The government has claimed that adjustments are required to get France's pension system out of the deficit by 2030.

But Macron, who made the revamp a centerpiece of his re-election campaign last year, has mainly been silent on the subject.

A tumultuous debate in parliament over the draft measure ended on Friday without even getting to the contentious Article 7 on raising the retirement age.

The proposal will now be considered by the Senate.

Between 1.27 - 2.8 million French protesters marched against Macron's reform plan around the country in one of the largest demonstrations in late January.

Despite polls consistently showing growing opposition to the reform and Macron's own popularity dwindling, the French President insisted on keeping a key campaign pledge he made when he swept to power in 2017 and before his reelection in April 2022.