Paris, (EFE).- The French president, Emmanuel Macron, affirmed this Monday that the pension reform “was necessary” to avoid the accumulation of deficits and proposed a new “social pact” to improve the conditions of workers.
In a televised intervention in the midst of the political crisis over the approval of this reform, Macron insisted that the changes approved by his government were the only possible response to the progressive increase in the number of retirees and life expectancy.
“Has this law been accepted? “Obviously not,” he admitted. Despite months of consultations, a consensus could not be found and I am sorry.
demand for social justice
Macron also admitted that there is “anger” in a context of jobs that do not allow them to cope with the rising costs of living.
“Some have the impression of doing their part and not being rewarded,” he said.
This “demand for social justice and renewal of democratic life” must be heard, he said, noting that “the answer cannot lie in immobility or extremism.”
For this reason, he proposed the new “social pact” together with businessmen and unions, to discuss “without limits or taboos” a series of “essential issues” among which he mentioned wages, the improvement of working conditions and the distribution of wealth. .
“The door will always be open,” said the head of state, despite the fact that in the last three months the Elysee refused to hold the meeting requested by the unions, which flatly rejected the delay in the minimum retirement age and the castling of the Government with respect to this measure, the central axis of the reform.
an expected speech
In his long-awaited speech, which lasted just 13 minutes and was his first message to the nation since the start of the pension reform crisis in January, Macron also made a plea for the conquest of a French “independence”, which guarantee the future of the country regardless of external forces.
These objectives will only be achieved, he said, through work and reindustrialization, which will also allow the creation of better-paid jobs.
Seeking to put the pension crisis behind him, the president has announced big areas of work for his government, starting with a battery of green planning actions before the summer to tackle climate challenges.
Improving justice and democracy
Macron also mentioned the need to work on justice and democracy, with measures to improve the courts, to fight crime and illegal immigration. He also pointed out that the growing social disengagement from politics and institutions must be alleviated through efficiency and citizen participation.
He also promised initiatives to ensure that everyone “has the certainty that our children will live better”, with an emphasis on matters such as health and education.
In parallel to Macron’s intervention, there were hundreds of casseroles called throughout France in protest against the pension reform.
The first reactions of the unions did not wait and, in statements to the BFM television channel, the union leader Laurent Berger, of the majority CFDT, asserted that what Macron regrets now “is not going to change anything.”
Improvised saucepans in Paris channel anger against Macron
“Here we cut off the heads of kings”, read one of the posters of the popular casseroles called today in the 20th district of Paris, where hundreds of protesters gathered while the French president, Emmanuel Macron, justified on television his unpopular reform of the pensions.
“No one here has listened to Macron’s (televised) speech, because Macron does not listen to the people, we do not listen to his speech either. I have no idea what he is saying now, ”leftist deputy Danielle Simonnet told EFE, amid a deafening noise of pans.
Like Simmonet, chosen deputy to the National Assembly in 2022 by France Unsubmissive as representative of the XX district constituency, hundreds of residents of this left-wing neighborhood ignored what their president had to tell them and occupied the outskirts of the municipal council located in Gambetta Square.
The same images were seen in other parts of Paris and France, where there were just over 250 simultaneous “pot concerts” called in front of the town halls by the Attac association.