This time, he’s leaping onto the third rail of French society and politics, the nation’s Byzantine pension system — actually 42 public and private systems that are hell-on-wheels to navigate and give French workers some of the world’s most liberal (and expensive) retirement benefits. Macron has declared an all-out campaign to consolidate them into a single national system managed — naturellement — by the state.
So, as with most major grievances of the French people, going back to the French Revolution, it’s “to the barricades,” or at least into the streets.
The walkout began on Thursday with transport workers, really the heart and soul of French life. Transportation is nearly frozen. All but two of 16 lines of the Metro system are shut down — those two being the only lines that run automatically without conductors.
Rail service across the country, including the high-speed TGV network, has slowed to a trickle. And now, the walkout has spread to schools and colleges, which are closing as their teachers strike. Even the Eiffel Tower shut down its gleaming lights that are a beacon in the night horizon of Paris.
The strike will continue at least until Monday, but unions are now calling for another nationwide demonstration on Tuesday — the day the government has said it will unveil details of just what it has in mind. Until now, France and its outraged workers have been running largely on rumors of what the plan might hold.
All that’s been disclosed thus far is that France would embrace some form of Sweden’s “points” system — with workers accumulating points throughout their working lives, which they could cash in at some still undefined moment. It would be a more equitable and simpler system, the president claims.
A lot of this stretches back to the post-war leadership of Charles de Gaulle, who — facing the challenges of rebuilding France and taking the leading role as Europe’s statesman — simply let a host of different unions (including those representing teachers, lawyers, accountants, transport workers and stage and screen performers) set their own level of pensions and retirement age.
The result is that France is being bled white by the generosity of these plans.
The question, following the “yellow vests” movement, is how much more of this unrest he can take before his international standing starts to suffer and he loses his grip on the political party he created when he convinced people he was the answer to economic France’s stagnation?
Macron is not one to give up easily. Nor should he.
The fact is, he’s right. Too often France quite simply doesn’t work. Its bureaucracy is paralyzing. I should know. It’s taken me weeks and two visits to government offices simply to create a “personal page” on the French internet tax system — the only way to monitor my payments.
Still, Macron may have to compromise in order to win. The French often must be led forcefully to a solution they resist but that will improve all their lives in the long run. The problem is that most still can’t see beyond the fact that the long run might take them past their long-anticipated early and lucrative retirement.
Source : Nbcnewyork