Over 60% of French residents believe that President Emmanuel Macron's recent interview about his pension reform amid the nationwide protests against it will lead to more discontent in the country, French broadcaster BFMTV reported on Thursday, citing an Elabe poll
PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd March, 2023) Over 60% of French residents believe that President Emmanuel Macron's recent interview about his pension reform amid the nationwide protests against it will lead to more discontent in the country, French broadcaster BFMTV reported on Thursday, citing an Elabe poll.
The poll found that 61% of French people feel that Macron's statements during an interview on Wednesday will cause more dissatisfaction in the country amid the political crisis related to his government's pension reform, according to the report.
The broadcaster noted that 71% of the French did not find the president's words convincing. According to 65% of respondents, Macron does a poor job as president, while 69% consider him arrogant. The same number of people pointed to his authoritarianism, according to the poll's results.
Dissatisfaction with the reform and government actions has increased since the last poll, released on Monday, according to the report.
According to the poll, 72% of French residents, up 3 percentage points from the previous survey, believe the government's reform is unfair; 63%, an increase of 5 percentage points, find it ineffective for the sustainability of the pension system; and 56%, up 4 percentage points, think the reform is unnecessary.
The poll was conducted online among 1,037 adult French citizens on March 22 after Macron's interview. On March 22, Macron gave an interview to the France 2 and TF1 broadcasters in which he outlined his vision of the reform, saying that it was necessary, though he himself was not happy to have to carry it out.
On March 16, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced that the government had adopted a law on raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 by invoking Article 49.3 of the constitution, which allowed the bill to get passed without parliamentary approval. The decision sparked a strong backlash, prompting people to take to the streets across the country.
The opposition tried to prevent the adoption of the law on Monday through a vote of no confidence in the French government, but failed to secure an absolute majority in the parliament twice.
There have been several general strikes and hundreds of demonstrations in France within the last two months, with over 1 million people taking part in most of them. During the protests, clashes often broke out between the police and the protesters. Today France is gripped by the ninth nationwide demonstration.
