French PM ‘determined’ to implement pension reforms despite opposition
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe reiterates his determination to continue with the implementation of his government’s planned pension reforms despite opposition from unions in the European country.
The defiant tone comes as French transport systems have been paralyzed for a fourth consecutive day, with union workers bringing key transport services in much of the capital Paris and across the country to a standstill in protest at the reforms.
“I am determined to take this pension reform to its completion and I will do this respectfully and I will address people’s concerns about it,” Philippe told French weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
“If we do not implement a thorough, serious and progressive reform today, someone else will do one tomorrow, but really brutally,” he added.
Philippe is scheduled to present a detailed outline of the pension reform plan on Wednesday.
Unions say the new system will introduce a “points system” for retirement, which will have a significant impact on both the public and private sectors, and will force them to work well beyond the official retirement age of 62.
Philippe Martinez, the head of the hard-line General Confederation of Labor (CGT) union, said his union would continue with protests until the government shelved the plan.
“We will continue until the plan is withdrawn,” Martinez told the weekly paper. “Let (Philippe) listen to people’s anger. Let him say that only idiots never change their minds. Let him go back to square one. There is nothing good in the government reform plan.”
The protests, which started on Thursday, are expected to continue in the coming days.
President Emmanuel Macron, already faced with a major challenge to his rule from “Yellow Vest” protesters for more than a year, is due to meet the ministers involved in the proposed reform later on Sunday.
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