Pension reform in France: the foreign press between disbelief and concern

For the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Paris looks like a war scene. Here, garbage cans on fire in the streets of Paris after the demonstrations at the Place de la Concorde on March 16. AP - Lewis Joly

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3 min

Pension reform and France, seen from abroad. In the United States, the American press watched with disbelief the rise in violence in France, after the vote on the pension law in Parliament. The German press perceives the use of 49.3 as a failure for Emmanuel Macron.

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With our correspondents in Berlin and Washington,

The photo made the front page of the New York Times, and this choice undoubtedly validates the visibility strategy of French left-wing deputies. We see them brandishing their placards in the National Assembly at a time when Elisabeth Borne engages the responsibility of her government on the controversial text. The Washington Post chooses the same image, still on the front page, but in a smaller format and at the bottom of the page, explains Guillaume Naudin, our correspondent in Washington.

On the inside pages, the newspapers explain the content of the reform, the political consequences of the use of 49.3 and the possible vote of a motion of censure. Televisions also insist on these aspects. They also recount in images the anger, the demonstrations in the streets, the incidents and the arrests in several cities of France.

In a country unaccustomed to social movements and mass demonstrations, these are unusual and spectacular images, as are those of the garbage that piles up in Paris because of the garbage collectors' strike and which are widely relayed. For several days, the press has been wondering about what all this says about the relationship of the French to work and about this rebellious spirit that never ceases to arouse a form of disbelief, but also perhaps fascination on this side of the Atlantic.

Speaking in a general hubbub, with calls for resignation and songs singing the Marseillaise in the ranks of LFI deputies, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced at the opening of the session at the National Assembly engage the responsibility of her government. REUTERS - PASCAL ROSSIGNOL

« This is the failure of the Macron method »

In the German press, the correspondent of the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung describes a landscape of chaos. Under his pen, Paris looks like a scene of war, and parliamentarians who voted for pension reform are reduced to asking for police protection while barricades burn in Paris, reports Nathalie Versieux, our correspondent in Berlin. "This is the failure of the Macron method," headlines the daily in a commentary.

The liberal Süddeutsche Zeitung is also interested in the failure of the Macron method, recalling that a year ago, it announced that "the French are fed up with the reforms imposed on them from above". "Nine months later, the hung president is reduced to using 49.3 to pass the main project of his second term," the newspaper said.

The weakness of the executive is of particular concern in Germany, at a time when Berlin is counting on a strong partner to confront Russian aggression in Ukraine.

► Read also Pension reform: the government draws the 49.3 to adopt the text

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