Posted on 03/16/2023 6:36:40 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
This a battle which has been going on for months already. The French retirement age is 62, one of the lowest in Europe. Since January, President Macron and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne have been saying they would push to increase the retirement age to 64 or 65.
With one of the lowest retirement ages in the industrialized world, France also spends more than most other countries on pensions at nearly 14% of economic output, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development…
“The aim is to balance the accounts without raising taxes or cutting pensions. Various options are on the table, but all include raising the retirement age,” government spokesman Olivier Veran told journalists.
But balancing the accounts is never popular and especially not in France where street protests are an art form. Earlier this month there were nationwide strikes and “largely peaceful” protests of up to a million people.
All of that was prior to today when Prime Minister Borne announced the retirement age would rise to 64. Not only that but the change is being made under Macron’s special constitutional powers without a vote in the National Assembly.
French President Emmanuel Macron will trigger special constitutional powers to enact the proposed pension reform bill, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced Thursday in the National Assembly, which had not yet voted on the proposal.
“We cannot bet on the future of our pensions,” Borne said amid jeers and chants from lawmakers. “This reform is necessary.”
Labor leaders in France called for new demonstrations following Borne’s announcement, and a large crowd of peaceful protesters gathered in Paris’ Place de la Concorde.
“By resorting to [constitutional article] 49.3, the government demonstrates that it does not have a majority to approve the two-year postponement of the legal retirement age,” tweeted Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT, one of the unions leading the protests.
Here’s the scene where Borne made the announcement while some attempted to drown her out.
2 minutes 30 surréalistes à l'Assemblée Nationale. Elisabeth Borne ne peut pas annoncer le 49.3, des députés de tous les bords chantent la Marseillaise , les députés LFI brandissent une pancarte "64 ans c'est non", d'autres lancent "démission". #DirectAN #ReformeDesRetraites pic.twitter.com/VrXclIg7YA
— Hugo Capelli (@Hugo_Capelli) March 16, 2023
She eventually did make the announcement by shouting over the protests. It’s reminiscent of Stanford Law School.
FRANCE: Watch members of the gov whistle, heckle and walk off as Elisabeth Borne announces Article 49.3 to adopt Macron's pension reform plan WITHOUT a vote in the French National Assembly. pic.twitter.com/vg9mT12J7k
— New World Odor™ (@hugh_mankind) March 16, 2023
In case you’re wondering, Article 49.3 is not some special power adopted during the pandemic, it’s a section of the French constitution which was adopted in 1958. Since then it has been used more than 90 times according to Wikipedia. It sounds like the Assembly could overrule this by voting for a motion of censure but that would also require the resignation of the government and apparently no motion of censure in response to an invocation of 49.3 has ever passed.
The Washington Post points to some of the reasons why this change is not extraordinary compared to France’s neighbors, even if the many don’t like it.
France has a lower minimum retirement age than many of its European neighbors, where laws similar to the one proposed by Macron have prompted less divisive debates. Germany, for instance, is preparing for an increase in the retirement age from 65 to 67, and lawmakers there have faced little public backlash.
This chart created by the Post shows French retirees have the most years in retirement of any European country:
Despite all of this, protesters are outraged and are gathering in the streets.
🇫🇷 ALERTE INFO – Des milliers de personnes se dirigent vers la Place de la Concorde à #Paris suite à l’utilisation du 49-3 : "Ça va péter !". (via @ClementLanot) #greve16mars #reformedesretraites pic.twitter.com/8lc4aRZDaL
— Mediavenir (@Mediavenir) March 16, 2023
Fires are being lit and Macron, Borne and others are being burned in effigy.
The French protesters are not messing around … Mannequins that look like Emmanuel Macron, Élisabeth Borne, Olivier Véran and Olivier Dussopt are burned.
Remember the history with France and the guillotine? ⚠️
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) March 16, 2023
Fire lit and people keep arriving in Paris as Macron forces through pension reform without a vote.
I predict a riot. pic.twitter.com/trEDbAugKR
— One Shot (@coconutfist12) March 16, 2023
This looks like the same spot a bit later.
NEW 🚨🇫🇷 | Thousands of people are protesting in Paris against President Macron’s reforms.pic.twitter.com/fTE24Pq6pC
— Trades Union Congress (@The_TUC) March 16, 2023
Police eventually arrived to move people out.
#Paris, la place de la #concorde commence a être évacuée avec des charges. Utilisation de grenades de désencerclement. #ReformeDesRetraites#directAN#assembleenationale #dissolution#revolution2023 pic.twitter.com/X1JuGroOUv
— Jules Ravel (@JulesRavel1) March 16, 2023
But fires have been set elsewhere in the streets.
#France: #Paris is on fire again: pic.twitter.com/j8FMyjI89r
— The WannabeWonk (@PotempkinBrain) March 16, 2023
🚨🇫🇷ALERTE INFO – La situation devient de plus en plus préoccupante dans les rues de #Paris : de nombreux feux sont signalés. pic.twitter.com/IWPSTBc4Iw
— AlertesInfos (@AlertesInfos) March 16, 2023
This is probably just getting started. I’ll update this post later if I see anything significant.
Just wait until the US pulls out of Europe in the probable near future and no longer subsidizes their military.
when that happens Europe will be defenseless. And all the dollars that US troops bring to Europe will disappear.
Paul Ryan-one year every 10 years. Seemed reasonable.
Too little too late. Just delaying the inevitable collapse by a few years.
Macron wife who was his school teacher and is much older then he is would qualify for the pension... Another pedophile.
Search: How old is Macron’s wife when they met?
In 1993, at the age of 40, she met the 15-year-old Emmanuel Macron
Ya got to pay for all those dark skinned muslims somehow. Sorry white frenchmen.
France spends s lot on military. And on military adventures in french west Africa
Well, different EU countries have upped their spending. In fact nearly all of them.
Poland for instance is to spend 4% of its GDP each year on defence, up from 2.6
Regarding European countries arming themselves to American levels, be careful what you wish for.
On FR there was criticism in 2017 to 2020 about the noises made by France of an “EU army” - and the proposal didn’t go anywhere because NATO exists.
Now assume that the EU is supposed to take over all of its defense and the USA isolates itself, what would happen?
1. The EU would be forced to change from a loose confederation to a federation.
2. It would get militaristic and ultimately be a threat to the USA (not anytime soon)
This opens up a can of worms - similar to if the USA withdrew from Japan.
Right now, the EU and Japan are tied close to the USA. Without NATO and the US presence in Japan, then we would have them as rivals that would slowly grow apart from the USA.
What about the light skinned muslims. You don’t have a problem with them?
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