Protest at the National Square in ParisSource: photograph Martti Salmi/unsplash.com
It is no secret that during Emmanuel Macron's rule, which is from 2017 to today, the social situation in France seems to be very tense. Over the last six years, thousands of strikes and protests have spread across the country as part of opposition to many socio-financial reforms and under-funding of certain labour sectors. The last shift, expanding retirement age from 62 to 64, one more time brought people to the streets.
This year's protests in France have been going on since January, erstwhile the pension improvement has only begun to be announced. Then about 1.2 million demonstrators came to the streets of French cities to halt the bill at the task stage. erstwhile the deadline for changes in the strategy was set in March, the inhabitants of cities and villages again mobilised to argue the planned reforms.
"Our fight must continue"
Strikes and protests have overrun many sectors of the economy. The opposition is mainly coordinated by the trade union coalition and parties and left-wing activists. The CGT trade union Confederation reported a simplification in atomic power generation at power plants due to a individual strike. On March 7, there was a mass protest of teachers, resulting in respective 1000 schools being closed. At the beginning of the month, a crucial proportion of flights were cancelled due to the air strike. There are inactive disruptions in rail and subway transport. There are besides problems erstwhile it comes to access to fuel at petrol stations. CGT announced the blocking of fuel shipments from all refineries in France. 3 of the 4 LNG terminals were shut down for 7 days, allowing for the introduction of liquefied gas into the country. This issue is crucial due to the fact that France is the main point of LNG imports to the European continent. "The fight must proceed so that the government will yet perceive to reason and abandon its unacceptable project," said CGT president Philippe Martinez on March 3.
Police intervention at protestSource: photograph Martti Salmi/unsplash.com
Paris drowns in garbage
The strike against pension improvement was besides joined by employees of the urban waste management plant in Paris. As a result, thousands of tons of garbage lie in the streets of the capital of France. Not only does the waste origin unpleasant odors and disfigure the urban landscape, but besides the inability to carry contamination into landfills threatens to plague rats. They multiply in sacks and another remains lying on the capital streets. The issue has become so serious that environmental activists, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez are presently active in the problem. Ecologists call for "peaceful intercourse" with rats. They besides point out that they can be amazingly useful. – It is estimated that rats eat respective tons of waste per day. “Le Figaro” said Dushka Markovic, 1 of the representatives of the Animalist Party. Therefore, eco-activists advance the thought of oral contraception for rats alternatively of poisons. “This policy can only lead to the emergence of peculiarly resistant rats,” said members of the ecological association of PAZ in Le Figaro. The conflict over the increased number of rodents in the city besides persists on the line of Paris' merlot and the local police. A socialist politician defends strikers, emphasizing the right of all citizen to strike. “The request of Parisian garbagemen who do not want to work 2 years longer is justified,” said Interia. A different conviction seems to be the local police, who threatened to bring protesters to justice if the strike did not end. Tourists and residents are divided. In social media, you can see a real dump of satirical materials on the litter of the French capital.
“I inactive have a lot to do”
When discussing the subject of the pension improvement in France, it is impossible not to mention the conditions under which it was adopted. During the session of Parliament, there was no average vote on the bill, but Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne utilized Article 49.3 of the Constitution of France, saying that a vote is not essential if the majority of Members do not vote for the resignation of the current government. After this decision, the sitting was interrupted for 2 minutes as left-wing parliamentarians began to sing Marseillen. Borne justified her decision by the fact that the government and the full country could not afford the collapse of a task that had been developed for so long and that is to save the pension strategy from collapse. However, commentators point out that by this decision the Prime Minister indicated that she did not find adequate support for the bill in Parliament. Approval of the improvement in this way only warmed the atmosphere on the streets of cities. The biggest protests occurred in Paris and Marseille, there was no shortage of clashes with the police. The opposition thunders over the resignation of the government of Borne. Both left and utmost right parties are outraged. – She must leave – commented in Parliament on 16 March the party's leader National Unity, Marine Le Pen. "I inactive have a lot to do, I am not going to resign," she replied in an interview with the TF1 premiere.
Recent events have shown the tension on social issues in France. Large-scale and months-long protests of the Yellow Kamizelek Movement, and now opposition to pension reform. French society was one more time on the verge of endurance, as were president Emmanuel Macron's governments. The question is, who will be victorious from this test of strength?
Mr Filip Stachowic
