PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th December, 2019) French President Emmanuel Macron's resolve to push through an overhauled pension scheme met with a thousands-strong crowd of angry public workers who fear his reforms may only exacerbate economic hardships.
Speaking in a recent interview with French broadcaster RTL, Macron said he wanted the reform that he pledged during the 2017 campaign to "go to the end" and would defend it if he should.
All leading trade unions called for a nationwide strike on December 5 in response, setting stage for a showdown with the government, more than a year after Macron's economic policies triggered waves of yellow vest protests.
The nationwide strike rallies have engulfed France and are expected to continue. The protest has already been described as the largest strike in France in decades. Several million people were expected to rally across the country.
An estimated 250,000 transport workers, teachers, medical staffers and other public employees protested in Paris alone, according to the CGT union's figures. The march began at 2 p.m. and continued into late afternoon.
The demonstration descended into scenes of chaos as dark fell, after clashes erupted between riot police and masked protesters in Place de le Republique, paralyzing the city center.
Radical demonstrators burned flares and set fire to tires and garbage, prompting police to fire barrages of tear gas that cloaked the square and sent passers-by running for cover. Paris police said 87 people had been detained as of 5 p.m.
Public transportation has been severely reduced. Commuters told Sputnik they had to cycle to work. Paris transport operator RATP said at least 10 metro lines would remain closed on Friday, while services on other lines would be limited. Suburban trains, trams and buses have also been affected.
The French president hopes to replace a patchwork of 42 retirement plans � tailored for various professionals using sector-specific benefits �with a points-based universal pension system.
Macron also promised the French not to raise the retirement age. But the new, harmonized pension system envisages full pension payments starting at the age of 64, rather than 62 as it is now.
The government hopes this will close the gap between contributions and payouts, as economists predict that the current pension scheme will run a 17 billion euro ($19 billion) deficit by 2025.
Jean-Marc Schaeffer, secretary general of the UNSA Retraites trade union, argued in a comment to Sputnik that no big plan existed as the government relied on a report by Jean-Paul Delevoye, high commissioner for pension reform.
The pension system needs to be overhauled, he agreed, but the existing initiative simply overlooks a lot of issues by putting everyone "into a common pot."
"This is too 'green,' we need time � and that's what we insist on � so that the system converges slowly and progressively. We will manage to consolidate certain issues. We cannot do this too quickly," he said.
The plan needs to count in various degrees of professional "hardships," he explained. For instance, life expectancy differs from job to job.
Alain Policar, a member of the Paris-based Sciences Po research university, said to Sputnik that "rather than harmonizing the system based on the best conditions that special pension plan for the public sector workers contain, they try to universalize it to the lowest."
This will be a disaster for roughly a million French teachers whose take-home pay is a mix of a fixed salary and bonuses, he said, which means their pensions would be considerably lower by the end of their career.
Schaeffer said that the pension strike was becoming a large-scale movement largely because it touched people from all walks of life.
This could see anti-reform protests merging with the yellow vest demonstrations, which began in defiance of fuel tax hikes before morphing into a general outcry over persisting economic hardships.
"There is an anger regarding the 'forced' politics in general, poverty is still there. There are some big problems in France. So it's not only about pension, there is a general dissatisfaction," he added.
Policar said that, if enacted, the pension reform would affect some 20 percent of French workers, with public sector employees bearing the brunt of it. He estimated there would be 1.5 working persons per one pensioner soon.
The expert accused the Macron administration of trying to please its rich base, many of whom are already retried and do not need to fear their future.
"I think that the pension reform will fail. The government will try to save the face saying 'we have done it,' but it will be effective in 2025, 2035 or even 2040," he predicted.
