End of a presidential privilege in full controversy in France for pension reform. The Elysee Palace has announced that President Emmanuel Macron will resign his future life pension from former President of the Republic when he leaves office. Neither will Macron be a member of the Constitutional Council of the French Republic upon leaving the Elysium.

The president, who turned 42 this Saturday, thus waives a privilege that the former presidents of the French Republic had so far under a law of 1955. The former French presidents charged when they left the Elysee Palace a life pension of 6,220 euros gross per month, about 5,200 euros net , a salary equivalent to that of a State Councilor. That amount they received so far regardless of their age, the duration of their term of office or their income.

Macron thus becomes the first French president to renounce his life pension as former president of the Republic. You will not receive it at the end of your term, or when you retire.

If he had not resigned, Macron could have received 5,200 euros net per month and for life from 44 years, coinciding with the end of his presidential term in May 2022 or from 49 years in 2027 if he is elected to a Second five-year period and complete it.

In addition, Macron, who began working at age 27 as a finance inspector after finishing his studies at the elite and prestigious National School of Administration (ENA), will resign from being a member of the Constitutional Council, the highest French judicial body, that the former presidents They used to integrate when they left the Elysium. For this charge they received about 13,500 euros gross per month.

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 93, is the only former French president alive who is still an active member of the Constitutional Council. The socialist François Hollande resigned from being part of this body, while Nicolas Sarkozy left that post in 2013, after the Constitutional Council rejected the accounts of his 2012 election campaign considering that there were some irregularities.

According to the Elysee Palace, "there is no desire to boast", only "a desire for coherence" on the part of Macron when giving up his life pension as former president.

Others, however, in France see behind this gesture pure political opportunism. Jean-Luc Mélenchon , leader of the left-wing party La Insumisa France, has denounced "the demagogy of this way of speaking" because Macron knows that in the future he can afford it financially.

"Retirement is not a privilege, it is not something superfluous. I think Mr. Macron must have very important personal income to be able to do without 6,000 euros a month ... There is something about him that separates him from the rest of mortals," he said Mélenchon in an interview on the French television network BFMTV. The leader of La Francia Insumisa, the equivalent of Podemos in France, said he is not willing to give up his pension because he needs it to live.

As in other countries, many former French presidents have so far received their lifetime pay without having to give up other income. They have been recycled into luxury lecturers, have written books or have been advisers to companies or foundations. They also enjoy office, personal assistant, security and car with driver in charge of the State.

When Macron retires he will submit, like the rest of the French, to the universal points regime, which the president intends to establish in France and clashes with the reluctance of the French unions.

Macron wants to reform the complicated French pension system. To do this, it wants to establish a universal system for points, which must replace the 43 pension schemes that currently exist in France. However, Macron has clashed with the reluctance of the unions, who fear that the French will have to work longer to collect less retirement in the future.

The proposal foresees that the reform will be implemented from the 1975 generation, which will be retired by 2037. Macron, who was born in 1977, would therefore be affected by the reform if it is finally approved.

Since last December 5, the French unions maintain a pulse with the government for pension reform, with the call for strikes on public transport and demonstrations in the main cities in France, without a truce announced for now Christmas and New Year's Eve parties .

The pulse between unions and government will continue with the arrival of the new year. The unions have called a new day of strike and national demonstration for next January 9, after being dissatisfied with the pension reform project presented by the government.

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