Macron rejects advice to shelve pension age rise to end strikes

EMMANUEL MACRON is increasingly isolated as he reportedly refuses to heed advice about how to end the strikes over pension reforms that have triggered one of the most serious crises of his presidency.

His mentors have tried to persuade him to soften a key part of the reforms: raising the age at which most workers can retire on a full pension from 62 to 64. However, the reformist, pro-business French president is determined not to back down like a previous government did when faced with strikes over pension reforms 24 years ago.

Mr Macron believes that he must maintain his pension reforms intact if he is to avoid becoming a lame duck, unable to fulfil his election pledge to modernise France’s economy, reduce unemployment and revive growth.

But many of those close to Mr Macron argue that France’s unions will never accept a change in the pension age at the same time as the abolition of 42 different schemes that currently allow transport and other public-sector workers to retire early on full pensions.

Jacques Attali, an economist who is one of Mr Macron’s mentors, told Le

Parisien: “This is a necessary reform, but it only makes sense if it’s perfectly fair and credible over time. That is not the case.”

Four other economists who helped draft Mr Macron’s election manifesto in 2017 published an article in Le Monde this month making the case for shelving the increase in the pension age. They argued that budgetary considerations were obscuring the main point, which is to introduce a single universal state pension system.

A retirement age of 64 is still lower than the pensionable age in many other European countries.

Polls suggest that a majority of the population still support the strikes – now in their fourth week.

Mr Macron spent Christmas at the presidential Riviera retreat while demonstrations against the reforms continued in Paris. Police clashed with “yellow-vest” protesters who joined the unions on the streets on Saturday.

‘This is a necessary reform, but it only makes sense if it’s perfectly fair and credible over time’