Photo: lefigaro.fr Worldwide
On April 15 at 3:39 a.m. Paris time (2:39 a.m. Moscow time), the French edition of Le Monde published urgent news: “The pension reform law has officially entered into force”.
Last night, French President Macron signed a law on pension reform and raising the retirement age to 64, while waiting for the bulk of the text to be approved by the Constitutional Council by Friday evening. The president had two weeks to publish the text, but apparently the Elysée has no intention of waiting. The fact that Macron was working at night was reported by the Official Journal, which publishes the laws and regulations of the French Republic.
Friday, April 14, the day after the 12th mass demonstration against the reform, France awaited the decision of the Constitutional Council on the legitimacy of the innovations proposed by Macron. In front of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, about a thousand people were hoping for something until 6:00 p.m. Decision no. 2023-849 of April 14, 2023 has been published.
At that time, in its live report, the newspaper Le Monde quoted the words of Julien Troccase, a trade unionist, the federal representative of the Southern Railways. “There is so much anger in the country right now… We may not have won yet, but Macron has already lost. The situation seriously escapes them, no one seems ready to give up. The executive would probably benefit from being changed tonight: victory for us, exit for them.
Julien Troccase has the right to be harsh in his declarations. On March 26, at the height of the demonstrations, a fellow railway worker was the victim of clashes between demonstrators.
“Our activist, who has worked for 25 years, was disfigured and lost an eye after a demonstration in Paris on Thursday. We are providing enormous support to our colleague who is currently hospitalized, we are furious, this will not go unpunished!” says Julien Troccase.
Only the sacrifice was in vain. President Macron remained deaf to the opinion of the French, on April 15 he hastened to put an end to the pension reform file, but received a significant ellipse in response. The president announced the day before that he had invited the unions to meet him on Tuesday at the Elysée, “independently of the decision of the Constitutional Council” on the controversial pension reform. But union leaders refused to speak to Macron until early May.
On April 15, the President of France is no longer just called “deaf” or “lame duck”. Henceforth, his fellow citizens nicknamed him nothing more than a “thief of rights”:
“Like thieves, Emmanuel Macron and his gang passed their pension law in the middle of the night,” said Le Monde. And another direct speech on April 15 from Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF): “A law voted in the middle of the night like thieves. Thieves in law. May 1, 2023: everyone in the street.”
Why are new protests planned for May? Not only the International Labor Day plays a role here, but also the fact that on May 3, the Constitutional Council, which suddenly became popular in 2023, will have to decide on a referendum. The Council rejected the first proposal, because at the time of its presentation, there was still no formal reason for its implementation: the decision to raise the retirement age had not been officially adopted. But those who disagreed weren’t too lazy to apply a second time. To organize a referendum, the organizers will have to collect 4.8 million signatures.
On April 14, at 10:30 p.m., the Paris police headquarters made 112 arrests. The prefect of police Laurent Nunez spoke of “about thirty burnt garbage cans”. And it was a day not even declared by the unions for mass protests.
Will Macron take the presidency? On the one hand, for the French, it has already become a “handshake”. On the other hand, he loses points in relations with the United States, when, on his return from China, he talks about what his overseas partners do not like: a cautious independence, a independent foreign policy, from its vision of China -Taiwan problem.
We have already assumed that Macron was at one time inspired by the image of Charles de Gaulle, the national hero of France. But the biography of the idol Emmanuel should be studied carefully. Due to internal protests in the country, President De Gaulle was overthrown 55 years ago. And in recent history, under the “brand” of Macron, the clashes between the citizens of the republic and the police have been the most violent since the student unrest of 1968. And the history of these clashes is not yet completed. As trade unionist Julien Troccase said: “We may not have won yet, but Macron has already lost.
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