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December 06, 2019In response to the strong mobilization of Black Thursday - with a total of 806 thousand protesters, 65 thousand in Paris alone, transport stops, schools closed - and the second day of paralysis in the country, the French government chooses the strategy of waiting.

The transport strike will go on until Monday 9, and the unions, which are drawing the sums of the success of the dispute to refine their strategy, announce a second day of strikes for next Tuesday.

From the government press silence, or almost. Sibeth Ndiaye, spokesman for the executive, confirmed a series of events decided on the agenda for next week. The High Commissioner for Pensions, Jean-Paul Delevoye - who received from President Emmanuel Macron the task of assisting the government in drafting the crucial reform - will present its conclusions, based on consultations with the social partners.

The second appointment will see Edouard Philippe at the forefront, who will illustrate the "general architecture" of the reform, to "get out of the shadow area" denounced by unions and opposition. So far there is no well-defined project on the table, but only a general guideline that provides for the abolition of the 42 specific pension schemes and the transition to a new universal points system, with the declared aim of saving resources to the French welfare state. In the aftermath of the protest, underlines Le Monde, "the government tries to relativize the strong turnout and is thinking about possible adjustments".

Faced with the paralysis of transport, in part of schools, police, justice and in the coming days even of health, the ministers "received the consignment of not showing any signs of fever, considering that they had prepared themselves for such a time" , analyzes the everyday.

In a totally blocked Paris, every member of the government, in his own sphere of competence, goes on the ground: yesterday at dawn the Secretary of State for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, went down to the underground underground to meet agents of the Ratp company and blocked users. Deliberately reassuring the comments of Prime Minister Philippe who defined strikes and demonstrations "globally in accordance with what was expected, with strong support in public transport", congratulating the unions for "a correct course, with little violence".

The black leitmotiv of government has been "there are so many people but the rates of adherence to the strike are far below the previous protest movements against the pension reform of 2010 and 2003". A small battle is being played, as always, on the numbers. With one of the main trade unions, the CGT, which registered 1.5 million participants, 250 thousand in the capital, a membership far exceeding the protests of 2010, with 400 thousand protesters on a national scale. The school has been the most important strike since 2003, with a 51% participation rate according to the government, 65% for trade unions, which are now inviting schools to join local institute closure initiatives.

Destabilized in recent months by the protests of the yellow vests and other social malcontents that now risk to compact, in this round the French executive has decided to wait for the reactions of the square, at the same time carrying on the negotiations with the unions to find the due compromises and adjustments, without which the reform will be difficult to adopt. A process in stages that is strategically desired by Macron that the second part of the mandate is being played on the altar of the pension reform and, in perspective, also the re-election in 2022. But for now the president sends forward his prime minister Philippe, in charge of a difficult mission, almost like a tightrope walker, who on his side still has a margin of negotiating maneuver towards the goal of the pension reform, an electoral commitment taken by Macron in 2017.