Macron takes the last step signing pension reforms into law

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
15 Apr 2023 12:14

French President Emmanuel Macron signs the highly controversial pension reforms into law on April 15 amid fierce popular opposition.

French President Emmanuel signs documents that will promulgate a new labor bill in his office at the Elysee Palace, Paris, France, 22 September 2017. (Reuters)

Amid fierce popular opposition, French President Emmanuel Macron signed the pension reform into law on Saturday, defying three months of protests and pleas from French unions who fiercely opposed the new reforms.

The deeply controversial legislation was put into effect after getting published overnight in France’s official journal, and was pushed through by an executive order issued by the French Prime Minister, to be successfully approved by the Constitutional Council on April 14.

The Council found the law, including the clause which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, to be essentially in line with the country’s constitution.

The reform plan has led to frequent violent protests in multiple French cities with French Unions also promising mass protests against Macron’s government during Labor Day on May 1.

The fight to put the bill into effect ended up being the biggest domestic obstacle of Macron's second term, due to overwhelming public resistance to the reforms and the President's declining popularity.

The Constitutional Council rejected six minor proposals, including forcing large corporations to publish how many over 55-year-olds they employ and the creation of special contracts for older workers. While the most highly resisted proposal of raising the retirement age by 2 years was approved.

"The Social Security Code is thus amended. In the first paragraph, the word: 'sixty-two; is replaced by the word: 'sixty-four'," states the text, referring to the retirement age.

An anti-democratic win

Macron’s victory is a double-edged sword. Analysts believe that although he was able to push through a key neoliberal reform, the fierce resistance he experienced could translate into a huge personal cost for the President.

His approval ratings have hit their lowest levels and many French voters have become enraged by their President’s decision to bypass a parliamentary vote on the law, which has been criticized as “anti-democratic” by his opponents.

Two out of three French people are opposed to having to work two extra years to be paid their pension.

Macron said the reforms are necessary to reduce pension deficits, which are expected to reach $14.8 billion by 2030, according to government figures.

"Stay the course. That's my motto," said the 45-year-old on Friday as he inspected Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, four years after it was destroyed by a fire.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne tweeted, “There are no winners or losers,” after the results of the council’s assessment were announced.

However, opponents of Macron have not yet given up on resisting the reforms.

The French paper, Liberation Daily, said in its headline, “Not defeated: opponents of the reform are not going to disarm," with the French Capital witnessing violent protests as angry citizens set fire to bikes, e-scooters, and garbage overnight.

A resurgence of popular protests

After three months of strikes and demonstrations, it is still unclear whether the trade unions will be able to muster enough protesters to recreate scenes of resistance witnessed in French cities in March.

The number of demonstrators had declined from 1.3 million people recorded in March to 380,000 who took to the streets on Thursday.

Unions hope that Labor Day on May 1 will produce a "popular and historic tidal wave" of people on the streets to oppose the reforms.

The Unions issued a statement in which they urged Macron not to sign the legislation into law warning that the issue was “not finished”.

Reforms brought chaos to French cities

In response to the legislative process that Macron took, workers let the city flood with 10,000 tonnes of uncollected garbage.

Train services also experienced multiple stoppages and workers striked at oil refineries and schools, meanwhile, opposition lawmakers' hopes to hold a referendum on the controversial reforms were thwarted by another decision taken by French courts on Friday.

Anti-reformists say that the new legislation will have great effects on unskilled workers and women who start their careers earlier on and have to work more years to receive their pensions.