The French protest is decreasing, but it is not over yet

14th day protests across France – more than 200 marches – against pension reform. Participation has declined, so far not only has the 64-year-old law been passed and the first executive decrees were published on Sunday (including the decision defining the passage of the retirement age from 62 to 64). However, the sequence is not quite finished: Thursday, an unknown factor of the bill process in the National Assembly of the Lewett group (about twenty deputies out and center), which, after already being beheaded in committee, is in danger of being rejected by Chairman Yael Brown-Biveh, Because it is financially unacceptable (it will increase the state budget by 15-18 billion, without coverage, although it is proposed to increase tobacco taxes). Then there will be a sequel, after the summer vacation: on the table are all the topics of work, the life of wage earners, purchasing power, wages that do not follow inflation, social protection, anti-inflationary laws – social that accumulate. Yesterday’s demonstrations were aimed at pressuring MPs to avoid leaving service on Thursday.

Few strikes yesterday, only Orly Airport at its peak (30% of flights were cancelled), Ryanair submitted to the Brussels Commission a petition signed by more than a million people against strikes in France. Some tension, late afternoon, in the Paris parade.

Laurent Berger, who currently heads the CFDT, which is short for reformist trade unionists, concedes that “the game is up,” but there are other battles to be fought. For the protestors who didn’t, I planted “seeds” for the future. Unsa, an independent trade union, is considering collecting signatures for the RIP, a referendum on a popular initiative, against people over 64. For Sylvie Binet, secretary of the CGT, “the fight for pensions is not over yet”. Liute and Nobis could resume the offensive in the fall, and on the horizon there is always the possibility of a “blame motion” against the government. At the moment there are “low maneuvers” by the executive, says Binet: the 64-year-old reform has not yet been voted on by the National Assembly, and there has been recourse to Article 49.3 (abolition of censorship) to avoid polling, 47.1 to expedite the procedure, Section 40 will be used Thursday which allows a bill to be excluded if there is no financial support. However, the combined unions, which have worked for more than 5 months, are in danger of collapsing, each union is focusing on its own priorities, and there have already been separate meetings with the Prime Minister, Elizabeth Borne.

In the community, there is still a widespread sense of grudge. Emmanuel Macron is trying to restore unanimity, he toured all over France (yesterday in Normandy, on the anniversary of the landing of June 6, 1944). The president has recovered somewhat in the polls, and the government is pleased to avoid a ratings downgrade by blogging agency Standard & Poor’s, which affirmed an AA rating (but with a negative outlook), in contrast to Fitch, which added it about ten days ago minus (AA-) For France’s debt rating, which is now close to 3 trillion. S&P did not penalize France because the policy is pro-business. A report released yesterday by the Public Policy Institute found that French “billionaires” pay less tax than others: against 46% for the majority, the richest 0.1% pay only 26%.