Everything from railways to study halls is on hold in France, with all French unions jointly agreeing to strike on Thursday to oppose the government’s recently released pension reform, which includes raising the national retirement age by two years.
Pension adjustments proposed by French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and President Emmanuel Macron earlier this year would make the retirement age from two years to 64 until 2030.
From this year, the retirement age will be raised to 3 months in line with the year.
French workers will have to complete 43 years of work, starting in 2027, to get a full pension.
At a press conference earlier this month, Borne said that with the changes, “the formula will be financially balanced” through 2030.
With French staff, all of whom get a government pension, living longer and running a pension deficit, the government says this is a change.
An estimated 70% of school teachers are on strike today, public energy provider EDF has reduced its electricity production and public transport is largely paralyzed, France 24 reported.
This is not the first time that the French government has proposed pension adjustments and it is not the first time that Macron himself has proposed a pension review. In 2019, amid massive opposition and the looming COVID-19 pandemic, Macron made a similar proposal that he eventually had to abandon. Almost 30 years ago, millions of other people took to the streets for weeks to oppose the pension reform that was finally abandoned by President Jacques Chirac.
Demonstrators march with demonstrators as they demonstrate against proposed changes to pensions, in Strasbourg, Array. [ ] in France.
The retirement age in France will remain low among other Western countries. In the US, the minimum age for full pension relief is raised from 66 to 67, a procedure that is expected to be completed until 2027. In Italy, the retirement age is also 67. In the United Kingdom the age is 66 and in Canada and Spain 65.
A lone passenger walks on the platform of a metro station in Paris.
Macron dismisses retirement age proposal in France (New York Times)
France: Pension reform is likely to succeed despite historic moves (Forbes)
France suffers the day of the longest strike since 1968 (Forbes)