Macron Roils French Sense Of Equality With Pension Reform

Paris, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Feb, 2023 ) :For opponents of France's pension reform, the proposed changes are about more than raising the retirement age: they're about an economic model seen as stacked in favour of the rich and a president viewed as too close to the wealthy.

In the run-up to Tuesday's mass protests, President Emmanuel Macron's centrist government had sought to stress that the cost-savings expected from the reform are required to fund a system that will run into deficit in the coming years.

But leftist politicians and trade unionists have framed the debate in much larger terms, centred on the questions of how wealth is distributed under Macron, and whether the poorest will carry the burden of his proposals.

"Macron never takes the money (from) where it is (abundant): the windfall taxes, the dividends, the companies," Floriane Verheil, a 44-year-old museum worker, told AFP as she marched with her husband on Tuesday in Paris.

"They're making savings where they shouldn't, on the backs of people who work hard and for low salaries." The reform proposed by Macron would raise the retirement age for everyone to 64 from 62 and increase the number of years of work required to claim a full pension.

Unions, left-wing politicians and intellectuals including economist and author Thomas Piketty insist that unskilled and low paid workers, who usually start their careers earlier than graduates, have most to lose.

The government counters that it is hiking the minimum pension to 1,200 Euros ($1,304) a month and has promised provisions for those with difficult jobs and long careers.