Protests Magnify Tensions Between Macron and The People of France

The French citizenry is in uproar over the recently passed pension reform. Source for photo: Le Monde

"We beheaded Louis XVI, Macron we can start again!" This was the chant repeated by protesters in Paris the day after French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne invoked a special constitutional power titled Article 49.3, allowing a proposed pension reform to be pushed through without a parliamentary vote. The Article 49.3 procedure has been used 92 times since 1958 by French prime ministers. This decision was pushed through by President Emmanuel Macron in order to support his plan to raise the legal age of retirement from 62 to 64. This particular move taken by Macron and his government has sparked nationwide protests that are frequently beginning to involve more violence. Many believe that invoking this executive power was an overreach on the part of Macron. They believe it was a direct contradiction of the promise he had made when elected in 2017 to have a “bottom-up approach” that would represent the interests of the French people instead of political parties and trade unions. 

This desire to increase the retirement age stems from concerns of inadequate pension funds as the country’s population ages. Additionally, the national birth rate in 2022 was the lowest it had been in 70 years. Other countries such as Germany and the U.K. have already made plans to raise their retirement age or are considering doing so. For the French public, raising the retirement age would be detrimental to their livelihoods, as their country is already facing a cost-of-living crisis that has been worsened by increasing inflation. 

The public is demanding that the retirement age remain at 62, but it is Macron’s decision to push through reform without the consent of the French Parliament that has fueled public unrest in recent weeks. Many of the French have gone on strike, including garbage workers, which resulted in Paris’ streets becoming littered with trash. It is apparent not just in Paris, but in all parts of the country that the people of France are deeply dissatisfied with their government’s current actions. 

Part of what makes Macron’s policy controversial is the division it has caused within his own party and the broader French government. Members of his own political party, Renaissance, do not agree with this particular exertion of executive power. Also fueling the division are ministers and lawmakers casting blame on each other for the escalating crisis. A potential consequence of the unrest that Macron has refused to consider is the dissolution of the National Assembly, which would give the far-right National Front and the left-wing New Ecological and Social People's Union (NUPES) more power than his own Renaissance party. In the face of mass criticism, Macron is attempting to calm his domestic policy situation by focusing on bolstering foreign policy with a visit to China in an effort to reclaim Europe’s initiative to support Ukraine. While this is an effort to repair his image and evade the pressing issue at home, Macron must eventually face the consequences of his decision that has ultimately pitted him against a majority of his country’s citizens, lest he risk the permanent dissolution of trust between France’s current government and its people.