The protest movement against President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reform smacks of the end of the cycle. A resignation for the street and a triumph for Macron, who in the end has won his pulse, after five months of mobilization against the key law of his mandate. France celebrated this Tuesday the fourteenth day of demonstrations against this law that raises the retirement age from 62 to 64, which is opposed by almost the entire country. It is already promulgated and will enter into force in September, after having received the validation of the constitutional council a month ago.
This Tuesday will almost certainly be the last day since the movement began five months ago. For the day, more than 200 demonstrations had been called throughout the country, but the participation has been the least massive of all. In all of France there have been 900,000 protesters, according to the CGT union, 300,000 in Paris, where there have been dozens of arrests. According to the police, there have been 30,000 participants in the capital. In the rest of the cities (Marseille, Nantes, Rennes or Toulouse) there have been lower figures than those of the previous calls.
In reality, the unions no longer aspire to stop the reform at this point, but they do want to mobilize the streets to continue showing rejection. The first two articles of the law were published this weekend in the official gazette and the opposition assumes that its implementation is irreversible.
The inter-union, which brings together the united unions and which has called all previous strike days, is now divided on how to continue. The CGT leader, Sophie Binet, maintains that they will remain united. “The party is about to end, whether we like it or not,” acknowledged the leader of the CFGT, Laurent Berger. “This is the last demonstration against the pension reform in this format. But there is still anger and resentment. We are going to have to maintain this mobilization to continue working on wages, purchasing power and social dialogue,” he admitted.
In the morning, several trade unionists occupied the headquarters of the Olympic Games in Seine Saint Denis, far from where the route of the Parisian demonstration began (Invalides). In Nantes and Toulouse there were also moments of tension in the marches, but very far from the violence of other previous protests in which there were 3.5 million demonstrators, according to the unions (half, according to the Government) and a monitoring of strikes, especially in sectors such as transport, 60%.
The movement is deflating, Macron has won this battle and has managed to survive (without having to back down) the longest period of protests the country has experienced since May 1968. The most violent took place in March, just when Macron approved the law by decree, without a parliamentary vote, given the doubts of not having enough votes. They left scenes of destruction throughout France, a thousand detainees and the same number of injured agents and demonstrators. In this time the Government has barely overcome a motion of censure.
Macron emerges relatively victorious, as he has four years left in his mandate and is weakened, with the lowest level of popularity since he was first elected, in 2017. After the most turbulent months, he has been trying to turn the page for a month, in these weeks He has made trips throughout the country to introduce other debates on the agenda. In his first acts after the law was promulgated, he was rebuked and he was received everywhere with saucepans. The anger, at least the visible one in the street, has been dissipating. He was in Normandy yesterday. At this point the police no longer have to hold back angry protesters at every act.
The last assault will take place in the seats this Thursday, as the Assembly will vote on a proposal by the independent group Liot to repeal the law. In reality, it has little chance of prospering, especially since the Government has emptied the proposal of its content, having censored the key article last week in parliamentary commission: the one that addresses the retirement age.
In the debate on Thursday, amendments may be voted on, but the Government is counting on resorting to a constitutional article that prevents increasing public spending. And repealing the law would imply it. The opposition is resigned, but wants to make noise and insists that this would be another blow to democracy. Macron has been given until July 14 to calm things down. That day he will take stock of these last 100 days, coinciding with the celebration of the national holiday.
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