French President Emmanuel Macron said the pension reform his government is completing is “fair and responsible”, acknowledging that in relation to Europe as a whole, France is lagging behind on this issue.
Macron, speaking to the press alongside Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Barcelona, where they both presided over a Spanish-French summit, asked that a day of strikes and union demonstrations be set for this Thursday in France. than 200 – passes without incident.
In Paris, some trade union leaders assured that there would be more than one million participants in the protests planned for the whole country this Thursday, to which Macron replied that it was “good and legitimate that all opinions are expressed”, although he called for no protests in the protests. “violence or property damage”.
As for the future, he committed to act in a “spirit of dialogue” but also “resolutely” and “responsibly”, for this reason he keeps on the table a reform that would increase the statutory retirement age to 64 years and which would increase to 43 years of discounts on social security to receive a pension without penalties.
To this end, he indicated that he had the legitimacy of the ballot box, which was granted to him both in the presidential election, which he won, and in subsequent legislative elections, which were won by the parties supporting him, despite the fact that they did not achieved an absolute majority in the Assembly.
France’s Council of Ministers expects to approve the bill next week, but Macron added that all parties will be able to speak out and try to “enrich” the text in the debate phase that follows.
The reform “has been presented in a democratic way” and will be debated in Parliament, which “will allow all parties to have their say,” he said at a joint press conference with Sanchez.
The French head of state, however, wanted to emphasize that “saving” the country’s social security system requires fundamental reform, taking into account intergenerational “solidarity” and that fewer and fewer active workers support the growing mass of pensioners.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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