The pension reform bill pushed by Macron seems to have come to an end. The failure of two waves of no confidence in Macron's government to pass the French parliament means that the bill is about to become law and that Macron's government will not be overthrown and restructured.
French President Emmanuel Macron
But this no-confidence motion, with only nine MPs in favor, would reach the required 287 votes. Macron's immediate crisis, far from being resolved, reflects a serious rift in parliament on the issue of pension reform.
As lawmakers squabbled over the vote, large numbers of demonstrators were burning garbage on the streets of Paris, storming police and gendarmerie lines, and the French Confederation of Trade Unions said after the results were announced that the next national general strike would soon come. In a video that went viral on social media, demonstrators lit flames and some shouted: "If we can behead Louis XVI, we can do it to Macron again."
Demonstrators light flames in the streets of Paris
A cold knowledge, the guillotine that beheaded Louis XVI more than 200 years ago, is still in place. Many American media also saw the excitement and were not afraid of big things, and directly asked: Are you France going to fight a civil war, who will surrender first this time?
In our perception, France is a high-welfare country, so it is said that it is only a delay in retirement at the age of 2, which is not a big problem. According to public data, the French have a monthly pension of about 1,509 euros, and they also pay 1,400 euros after paying taxes, equivalent to more than 10,000 yuan, what is not satisfied?
Okay, then let's take a good look at how many pits there are in France, as a high-welfare state, their pension system.
Demonstrators on the streets of Paris
The biggest pit, and the focus of this popular protest in France, is not raising the retirement age, but further extending the number of years of work. Macron's pension system reform states that while the retirement age is extended to 64, the number of years of service that needs to pay pension insurance will also be increased to 43 years.
What does this number mean? For example, there is a Frenchman, who graduated from college at the age of 21 and walked out of society, he must immediately and immediately find a job, pay pension insurance on time, cannot be unemployed once in the middle, everything goes smoothly, and when he works until he is 64 years old, he can retire and receive a full pension.
Angry French people
But if you are unlucky or have no ability, and you are unemployed for a few years in the middle, then sorry, the time to receive the pension will be postponed, if there are many unemployment, it is difficult to get the full pension in your 70s. On this issue, Macron's own advice is that everyone can come out to work early, for example, stop studying at the age of 16 and go to work in the factory.
But now, the Ukraine crisis has not been resolved, the United States is still cutting European leeks, French young people are not easy to find jobs, in January this year, France's unemployment rate was 7.1%, next door to Germany was only 3%, as the impact of the collapse of the US banking system spread to the euro area, the EU will have a harder time this year.
Demonstrators
You can imagine that an ordinary person who has worked for more than 40 years, will inevitably experience a bad global economy, or the world pattern is unstable, which will eventually lead to their inability to retire on time, or not get a full pension, how can the French people not be angry.
Then someone may have to say, I don't take the full pension, I can't take the basic pension, it's okay. The current basic pension in France is 645 euros, which seems like a lot. But now the price of a baguette, France's "standard weapon", has risen to about 1 euro due to inflation, energy crisis and other reasons. Other foods, such as vegetables and meat, have risen in price in the past year.
Demonstrators
The slight increase in the cost of filling your stomach is really nothing. But not many French people have houses. According to public data, the owner-occupied housing rate in France is 58%, and if you have to rent a house after retirement, let alone 645 euros, or 1400 euros of accommodation conditions are also average.
Another trivia, the poverty line in France is 940 euros per month. If you don't work honestly for more than 40 years, what awaits most French people is to retire and return to poverty.
The French people protested by lighting fires
In this case, it is obviously impossible to make the French not cry or make trouble, obediently accept Macron's pension reform bill, and France is a country that just has a long tradition of demonstrations, too far away The "French Revolution" is not pressed, after the end of World War II, France entered a prosperous period of rapid economic development under Charles de Gaulle, and France also broke out a large-scale demonstration caused by youth dissatisfaction with the education system.
During this period, the de Gaulle government solved the problem through suppression, concessions, repression, and concessions, and finally with the government's military deterrence and continuous negotiations and compromises between the two sides. Now, Macron's government has passed reforms by forceful means, but has not communicated with the protesters, which has determined that this large-scale riot is far from over.
French people burn garbage in the streets
Five years ago, Macron's fuel tax hike on the grounds of fulfilling the Paris climate agreement caused oil prices to skyrocket, triggering the "yellow vest" movement that has gone down in history, according to the French police, 280,000 people took to the streets on the first day and then spread across the country.
Macron made some concessions to the "gilets jaunes" in a televised speech a month later, but the protests continued into late 2019, a whole year. So now, Macron is not facing the end of the pension reform, but the street protests have just begun, compared to the last time only the cost of fuel increased, this time he is moving the pensions of all Frenchmen.
As for how this vigorous demonstration will end, and who will raise the white flag in the end, it is estimated that Macron himself is also drumming in his heart.