2023-06-06 08:06:02
PARIS (AP) — French unions were seeking to reignite resistance Tuesday to a raise in the retirement age imposed by President Emmanuel Macron, with what might be a final wave of protests and strikes across the country.
A third of the flights at Paris’ Orly airport were canceled due to strikes, as well as regarding 10% of trains across France. Nearly 250 marches, demonstrations and other actions are planned in the 14th national day of protest that has been called since January once morest the pension reform.
Macron’s decision to delay retirement from 62 to 64, and to pass the measure in parliament without a vote, angered the public and sparked some of the biggest demonstrations in the country in years.
But the intensity of anger over the reform has subsided since the last major protest on May 1 and following the measure was signed into law in April. Some see Tuesday’s actions as the movement’s latest major show of opposition.
Macron maintains that the reform was necessary to finance the pension system in view of the aging of the population. Unions and left-wing opponents say the change hurts the poorest workers and have called for higher taxes on the wealthy and businesses in return.
Organizers of Tuesday’s protests hope to rally support ahead of a possible parliamentary debate on Thursday on a bill to repeal the new retirement age.
The legislators of the LIOT center opposition party presented the proposal to restore the retirement age to 62 years. Although Macron’s centrist party does not have a majority in the National Assembly, it has sided with the conservative Republican Party in rebuffing opposition efforts.
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