France is in a stand-off against Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform

Arollingnational strike, launched on March 7th and in its third day as went to press on March 9th, will “bring the economy to its knees”, declared one union leader. With nearly 1.3m protesters on the streets across France on day one, a third of classrooms shut, and sporadic illegal power cuts, the country’s trade unions are engaged in a stand-off with the government over pension reform that is approaching its finale. The deadline set for parliament to examine President Emmanuel Macron’s legislation is March 26th. The unions, which are renewing their strike every day, want him to back down and shelve the plan before that.The centrepiece of the reform is a rise in the minimum pension age from 62 years to 64, and an accelerated increase in the required number of annual contributions from 41 years to 43 to qualify for a full pension. As every French leader who has ever tried to delay its citizens’ retirement knows, pension reform is a tinderbox. This time, hostility has hardened as the protests go on. Turnout on the streets on March 7th was slightly higher than the previous record, on January 31st. Two-thirds of the French still say that they want the government to shelve its plan, just as they did at the start of the year.