Protests going on in France
Amidst the ongoing tensions in Paris, President of France, President Emmanuel Macron has urgently called for a meeting of his ministers. There is a series of protests going on in the country.
The protests are taking place against the new law that was passed by Macron. The law was passed in the French parliament using a special provision that keeps any kind of voting aside. Unions have made a resolution that mass protests will not calm down if the law is not taken back.
The protests a going on in France since mid-January. The law has increased the retirement age to 64 from 62 as a part of it.
The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, meanwhile said that while there was no plan to drop the legislation, she was ready for fresh dialogue with unions.
“We have to find the right path… We need to calm down,” she told media.
Meeting with King Charles III POSTPONED
France was going to host King Charles III with pomp and show on the day. They had to cancel the appointment due to the conditions in the nation.
Macron instead had to meet Borne, other cabinet ministers, and senior lawmakers for the crisis talks at the Elysee, the presidency said.
Borne is anticipated to propose new measures to soften the impact of the pension reform targeting physically demanding jobs, conditions for older workers, and retraining if unions accept her offer for negotiations.
At the meeting on Monday, Borne was to propose the consultation strategy to the president before distributing it to Macron’s allies and cabinet members, according to presidential sources.
CFDT asks for “very big move on pensions” from the government of France
One of the five main French trade union confederations is the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), which has been under Laurent Berger’s direction since 2012.
Laurent Berger has unexpectedly taken the pension reform very strictly. He said he would accept the offer of talks but only if the reform was first “put to one side”.
Berger has called on the government to come up with a “very big move on pensions”.
Left-wing firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon said on Sunday that there was “a very simple way” to return to peaceful relations, and that was “to withdraw the law”.
Since the pension reform was imposed, there have been frequent clashes between police and protesters in Paris and other cities, resulting in the anti-pension reform movement becoming the biggest domestic crisis of Macron’s second term.
