Macron: I’m ready to be unpopular for pension reform
President Emmanuel Macron has said he’s ready to be “unpopular” if it means driving through pension reform in the best interests of the country.
In a 35-minute televised interview broadcast live, Mr Macron repeated that his widely criticised pension reforms and decision to force the bill through France’s lower house without a vote were in the national interest.
“As I speak to you, do you think it gives me pleasure to enact this reform? I say this to the French people, it gives me no pleasure. I wish I didn’t have to do this. But it’s out of a sense of responsibility and for the country’s best interests,” he told French TV as he addressed the nation for the first time.
The reform will raise the age of retirement from 62 to 64 and extend the length of time people must work in order to obtain their full pension.
Mr Macron affirmed that the reforms would come into force by the end of the year.
“I am not seeking re-election, I cannot constitutionally,” he said referring to the two-term limit of the French presidency. “But between the short-term polls and the general interest of the country, I choose the general interest of the country. And if, in the end, I have to shoulder my unpopularity for it, I will shoulder it.”
As he spoke, striking workers continued their blockades of oil refineries, petrol depots, roads and train tracks across the country, while improvised protests in major cities also broke out into clashes with police.
In Rennes, police fired water cannons to disperse increasingly hostile crowds. The fishermen’s protest culminated with a demonstrator driving his tractor towards the police truck and jumping out, with the tractor in drive. Police were able to put the brakes on the tractor before it hit the police truck. Police made nine arrests.
Amidst the unrest and chaos, Sandrine Rousseau of the Ecologist party, called for the cancellation of King Charles’ visit this weekend when he visits Paris and Bordeaux – his first state visit as monarch.
“Unbelievable. We are going to have Emmanuel Macron, the monarch who is going to welcome King Charles III in Versailles who is going to descend the Champs-Elysées and dine at Versailles while the people are protesting?” she said in an interview with RMC. “Of course he should cancel this visit. Is the priority really to welcome Charles III in Versailles?”
