France shows resilience in the face of opposition to pension reform

He added that “other solutions” could help the government achieve its goal of balancing the pension system by 2030.

He said the plan, a major domestic policy in Macron’s second term, would be submitted to the cabinet on January 23 before being debated in parliament in early February.

Full details of the plan – a banner policy to raise the retirement age from the current level to 62 that the unions reject – will be published on January 10.

Macron’s reforms are one of the most sweeping in a series of pension reforms passed by successive right- and left-wing governments over the past decades with the aim of ending budget deficits.

Edward Philip, former prime minister, summed up the frustration of politicians who have failed to manage pension progress despite longstanding efforts.

“The British have their Irish problem, the Americans have their gun problem, and we have our pension problem,” he recently told AFP.

According to opinion polls, the majority of the French oppose reform, as a poll conducted by Harris-Interactive, on Monday, showed that the level of opposition is 54%.

“The only favored group is pensioners aged 65 and over,” said Frederic Daby, head of the Ifop polling institute.

The cabinet reshuffle was due to be announced in mid-December, but Macron, whose ruling party lost its parliamentary majority in last year’s elections, delayed the announcement to allow for further negotiations.

He said but he wouldn’t back down. “This year will be the year of reforming the pension system,” he said in his traditional New Year’s address.

He promised to implement a new system “by the end of the summer”.

Later on Tuesday, Bourne is expected to hold further talks with unions, which say even raising the already unambitious retirement age to 64 will not be accepted.

Laurent Berger, president of the moderate CFDT union, said any change in the retirement age is a “red line”.

In an apparent olive branch for unions, Bourne on Tuesday withdrew a plan to limit the duration of unemployment benefits if the national unemployment rate drops below six percent, sparking more anger among union leaders.

Bourne hopes to win parliamentary support from conservative Republicans, who broadly support pension reform and could vote with the government.

Their support would avoid resorting to Article 49/3 of the Constitutional Procedure, which gives a minority government the right to pass laws without a vote.

But analysts say such a move would undermine the legitimacy of the whole reform in public opinion.

Left-leaning politicians have announced a fierce battle against Macron’s reform plans, including calls for mass protests.

“It will heat up in the streets,” threatened Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left party LFI.

Meanwhile, Dabi coincided with the social unrest that rocked France in 2018 with the yellow waste movement.

“The elements of the social explosion are in place,” he said.

Dabi said that the “lack of inflation in 2018”, along with dissatisfaction with low wages and a sense of economic downturn, would be “spark enough to set everything on fire”.