Why France's Pension Age Changes Have Sparked Nationwide Protests

Roads were blocked in Paris, Rennes and other major French cities this week, and rubbish piled up on the streets as workers in several sectors walked out. More than 300 people have been arrested. The cause is Emmanuel Macron's plan to raise the state retirement age, and the way his government chose to push it through.

The change itself is specific. France's state pension age is 62, below the UK's 66, Spain's 65, and the 67 set in Germany and Italy. Under the reform, it rises to 64, by three months a year from September 2023 until September 2030. The number of years of contributions needed for a full pension goes from 42 to 43 in 2027. Workers can claim at 62 now, but the pension is reduced if they have not paid in enough. At 67, they receive the full amount regardless.

What turned a policy dispute into outrage was a constitutional tool. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who announced the proposals on 10 January, said just minutes before the National Assembly was due to vote this month that the government would use Article 49.3. It lets a government pass a law without a vote by MPs. Charles de Gaulle introduced it in 1958 to bring stability and widen government powers, and it has been used more than 80 times, most often by Socialist prime minister Michel Rocard, who invoked it 28 times between 1988 and 1991 under Francois Mitterrand. Macron's former prime minister Edouard Philippe tried it for pensions in March 2020, but the pandemic ended that effort. Macron's party lost its absolute majority at last year's election, so passage in the Assembly was not guaranteed, even though the bill had cleared the Senate. His 2020 attempt at pension change had already led to the longest strikes in French history.

The government's case rests on money and demographics. France's national debt stood at 113.4% of GDP in the third quarter of 2022, against 100.2% in the UK and 66.6% in Germany, and close to Spain's 115.6% and Portugal's 120.1%. There are 1.7 workers for every pensioner, down from 2.1 in 2000. David S Bell, emeritus professor of French government and politics at the University of Leeds, calls it Macron's flagship policy, one he wants done before his term ends. But Bell notes it addresses a future burden based on projections, not an immediate crisis, which runs against how politics usually works. Macron's argument, in Bell's words, is that without a longer working life the country will not be able to afford its system.

The resistance has deep roots. Mitterrand lowered the retirement age to 60 in the 1980s, and along with generous unemployment benefits and the 35-hour week it has come to be seen as a right. Bell says French expectations of the state differ from British ones, and taking that away prompts people to ask why. He adds that there is doubt about how reliable the economic forecasts are. Past efforts have foundered: Jacques Chirac faced mass strikes in 1995 and failed, while Nicolas Sarkozy raised the age from 60 to 62 in 2010 but met a huge backlash.

Commentator Agnes Poirier argues that the French are more fortunate than they realise, and that the reform would only bring France closer to its neighbours. She explains the passion by noting that most people, apart from the very rich, depend on state pensions, with nothing like the private schemes common in the UK or US. Both she and Bell say Macron's team has failed to explain the economic rationale to the public or MPs. Poirier says the real driver is growing deficits, yet the government described the reform as fairer, which she doubts.

The next test comes within days. Using Article 49.3 opens the government to a no-confidence vote, and two motions have been tabled. One, from Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National, is signed by 88 cross-party MPs. A second, from a group of independents, has 91 backers. Bell says Macron's survival depends on his team's tact, which so far it has not shown.