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The plan to lift the minimal retirement age from 62 to 64 has drawn such ire in France that protests have turned to clashes amid a heavy police presence, strikes have paralyzed trains and shut down colleges, and walkouts by trash collectors left piles of rubbish luggage rotting within the streets of Paris.
The 45-year-old French president has defended the age hike as vital to ensure the survival of France pension system, but it surely has roiled the European nation for weeks.
Wednesday’s interview are his most direct feedback to the nation since pushing the laws by means of.
Whereas the French authorities survived two no-confidence votes in parliament this week, backlash to the contentious pension reform plan has solely grown, with ongoing protests in elements of France on Wednesday and unions planning one other spherical of nationwide mobilization on Thursday.
Protests have been reported in cities together with Toulouse, Marseille and Lyon over the previous week. Police fired tear gasoline and water cannons at demonstrators gathered on the Place de la Concorde in Paris, whereas protesters set trash cans on fireplace in Nantes.
Authorities detained tons of of protesters in current days though few had been charged, French media reported, whereas the Inside Ministry said 94 officers had been injured in confrontations since final Thursday.
Macron, who’s in his second five-year term, misplaced an absolute parliamentary majority in legislative elections last summer.
Whereas the pension regulation obtained the backing of the Senate, the higher home of parliament, it met fierce criticism on the left and much proper within the Nationwide Meeting, or the decrease home, which had been set to vote on the invoice later.
With even the backing of some center-right lawmakers in query, the federal government circumvented a vote utilizing government powers and prevented the danger of a defeat.
The invoice may nonetheless face a overview by the Constitutional Council, the court docket which critiques the constitutionality of legal guidelines, earlier than it may be signed into regulation.
Some union leaders have warned that broader social unrest could also be looming, paying homage to the 2018 Yellow Vest motion wherein common clashes with police lasted till coronavirus pandemic restrictions hit. That motion triggered by proposed tax will increase widened to different grievances together with over social inequality.
Rick Noack contributed to this report.
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