Emmanuel Macron said “I felt the anger of the French” but justified the pension reform

In the midst of a political and social crisis in France, with anger and disappointment Faced with the promulgation of the pension reform without being voted on by parliament, President Emmanuel Macron finally addressed the country on Monday at dinner time.

Faced with the “anger”, the head of state has proposed “a life-work pact” to appease so much anger and above all to be able to finish the four years that remain in power.

Macron opened his speech by referring to the pension reform, “approved in accordance with the Constitution”. “These changes were necessary to guarantee retirement for everyone. Our response could not be to lower pensions or do nothing. Otherwise, it was our debt that increased for future generations. It’s an effort, it’s true”acknowledged the president.

“Has this reform been accepted? Obviously not. Despite months of consultations, it was not possible to find a consensus,” he admitted. “It was anger that was being expressed, a desire to find meaning,” said the president, in a blue suit and white shirt, from the Elysée.

“I felt the anger of the French. I heard in the demonstrations an opposition to the reform,” the president said.

“Three Quarries”

Macron presented his “working quarry”, the first of his “three big projects” for his five-year-old son.

“Our response can be neither immobility nor extremism. We don’t want to depend on anyone. There are three main axes: the workplace. We have unprecedented and indisputable results. This is the result of the transformations of recent years. Labor must pay even better. A series of negotiations must take place. Better distribution of wealth, search for solutions to professional burnout, increase in the employment of the elderly. This new working life pact must be found in the coming weeks,” promised the president, whom 70 percent of French people don’t trust.

“The third axis is that of progress. National education must be linked to its ambition to be among the best in Europe. Our healthcare system will also be profoundly rebuilt. By the end of next year we will have to decongest our emergency services. We have to find concrete solutions to improve daily life,” she explained.

Drawing a parallel with the reconstruction of Notre-Dame, which will finish its reconstruction in 5 years, Macron believes that it must “let it be the same with the great nation-building works”.

“We need fewer laws, more meritocracy. It is this national momentum that I believe in. These three priority areas form our government’s road map. These three projects should bring us together. Next 14 July should allow us to take stock. We have 100 days of peace ahead of us,” she said.

Until Friday it was the pension reform. Today he is the crisis in France. President Emmanuel Macron, his inability to listen, his contempt, his arrogance, the promulgation of the reform at 3:28 in the morning when everyone asked him not to do it and to appease this fiery and furious France to calm down.

There is no person who accepts their derogatory attitudes. Even among their ranks they believe that things “could have been done differently”.

He wanted to talk about the future, about his new projects, after never having received the trade unionists during the reform negotiations and now they refuse to meet him tomorrow. The fracture is installed and it is dangerous as never before because it is the extremes that face each other in France: the extreme right of Marine Le Pen and the extreme left of Jean Luc Mélenchon.

But the French, who voted for him with “a useful vote” in the ballot so that Marine Le Pen didn’t win just two years ago, are looking for explanations. They are convinced that this reform that he provocatively promulgated is not finished. They will prove it with an unprecedented march on May 1, which will bring together a country in the throes of anger and utter disappointment, when Macron He still has 4 years of mandate without a parliamentary majority.

reactions

The first reaction was unusual: a blow from a pot in front of the Pantin town hall. A concert that will be repeated tomorrow.

Laurent Lauger, the leader of the CFDT, France’s main trade union, deplored “a kind of vacuum” in Macron’s speech. For him this symbolizes “contempt for workers”. That the head of state regrets the lack of consensus “doesn’t change much,” he said.

Eric Ciotto, leader of the conservative Republicans, described the speech as a “catalogue of good wishes”. “Nothing new, nothing concrete. The method has clearly not changed with laudable goals but without the slightest questioning,” he said.

Marine Le Pen, who leads the National Grouping and benefits from this crisis, said she could re-establish ties with the French but “He chose once again to turn away from them and ignore their suffering”. “This disjointed, lonely and narrow-minded practice of power heralds the continuation of a five-year period of contempt, indifference and brutality from which we will have to emerge through the polls,” she wrote on Twitter.

The leader of Nupes, Jean Luc Mélenchon, denounced a speech by Macron “out of touch with reality”. ”He Alleges the theft of two years of freedom. Casseroles sound more right, ”he said. Attac was the one who claimed the cacerolazo. According to them, there were 300 of them across France boycotting Macron’s speech and they will continue.

For Véronique Reille-Saoult, a columnist, Macron had every interest in explaining to the French that is “aware of reality” and in “suggest something”.

“Take stock” and “see what you did next”. The tone of Macron’s speech, organized on Monday evening, is given by the Elysée: close the chapter on pension reform, after three months of protests and move on.

Pension reform is no longer the only issue crystallizing opinion. Employment of the elderly, inflation or even education worry the French.

“In the beginning it was a tension on the subject of pensions. Today it’s something else”, confirms Véronique Reille-Saoult.

Protesters threaten to disrupt next year’s Paris Olympics, following the passage of President Macron’s deeply unpopular pension reforms, despite months of strikes and demonstrations.

Macron hopes anger over raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 will subside, as the French reluctantly accept it.

However, activists are determined to sabotage the Olympic Games, which will take place next summer. They are calling for immediate demonstrations and strikes to block the construction of the Olympic Village north of Paris, using the social media hashtag #PasDeRetraitPasDeJO (“No Repeal No Games”).

They are also urging opponents to sign up to volunteer for the Games, hoping they can cause havoc if they don’t show up. Some are threatening protests to disrupt the French Tennis Open, which starts next month, the Tour de France cycling race in July and the Rugby World Cup in September and October. France is still furious.