According to the government, the reforms are necessary because people have to work longer now that they are generally getting older than before. The working people therefore pay the pensions of more and more pensioners.
The unions have already organized actions about this, the largest being the national strike day of 19 January. Then between 1 and 1.5 million people demonstrated against the reform plans. Many strikes and protesters are also expected today. The largest protest march is back in the capital Paris and starts at 2 p.m. on the Place d’Italie.
The government presented the plans to parliament on Monday and stressed that raising the retirement age cannot be discussed. The government of President Macron and Prime Minister Borne no longer has a majority in the French Lower House, the National Assembly. The large opposition party The Republicans seems to be in favor of the plans. The left-wing coalition Nupes vehemently rejects them, as does the Rassemblement National, among others, and has tabled numerous amendments.
French governments have struggled for decades with pension reform and protests against their plans to change the costly and complicated system built by profession. Macron has let a reform plan disappear in a drawer, mainly because of fierce protests in 2020. At the end of 1995, the country was paralyzed for three weeks by numerous demonstrations against the then plans to reform the pension system. Then on December 12, according to the unions, there were 2 million demonstrators in Paris. According to the government, there were 1 million. Three days later, the government withdrew the proposed pension reform.