• France Demonstrations across France: "Before it was for pensions, now for our freedom"

The French government and unions are seeking a way out of the social crisis caused by President Emmanuel Macron's controversial pension reform, approved by decree two weeks ago, despite having the country against it. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne will receive next week the trade unions, united for the first time in a decade against this law. This means that both parties sit down again to talk, something that has not been done since the reform was approved in January.

The appointment will take place between Monday and Wednesday, just before the new day of mobilization called for Thursday, which will be the eleventh. Basically, the quote does not change much, because the two sides remain firm in their positions and these are irreconcilable. The unions are calling for the law to be withdrawn or put on hold for the time being. The government insists that this will not happen and, moreover, it will not move a comma, even less on the thorniest article: the one that delays the current retirement age from 62 to 64.

In the form things do change, because both parties are at least open to talk for the first time in almost three months. "The unions will be able to talk about all the issues they want," sources close to the prime minister said. "If we go, it's to talk about pensions. What else?" said Laurent Berger, general secretary of the CFDT, the most moderate and representative union in the country.

Both Berger and CGT leader Philipe Martinez suggested Macron accept the intervention of a mediator, an outside personality to act as a judge in the crisis, who has radicalized on the street. But they first want the law to be paused, something that has been flatly rejected by the government.

In the last week, the government and unions have reached out to each other, albeit with small mouths. In a television interview a week and a half ago, Emmanuel Macron was open to talking to unions about "all issues in the workplace, but not pensions." Days later it was Borne who threw the gauntlet at them, but he was adamant about that point as well.

The next two weeks are key. In the strike called for next Thursday, it will be tested if the mobilization is deflated or maintained. But above all it will be crucial on April 14, when the Constitutional Council announces its verdict on the reform. It must decide two issues. The first is whether it complies with the Constitution. The unions and the opposition denounce that the procedure used to approve it (such as a financial law) is a legal shortcut and not valid.

It will also decide on a proposal from the left to hold a referendum to limit the retirement age to 62. This Council is independent and is made up of nine wise men with extensive careers and prestige, among whom is the former minister, Alain Juppé. If they give the green light to pension reform, it will be enacted and enter into force, as planned, in September. They can also modify the parts that they consider do not conform to the Magna Carta.

The radicalization in recent days of the protests against the reform (many of them spontaneous, apart from those called by these organizations) makes the solution to the social crisis more urgent, even before the Council pronounces. On Thursday the tenth day of strike was celebrated, with a low participation, but with new incidents. There were more than 200 police officers injured, according to the Interior Ministry, and a hundred people were questioned.

The Government is aware that, as the street stands, the trade union route may be the only way out. The unions, in turn, fear that the peaceful mobilization they have led so far will lose strength and that the protest will remain in the hands of radicals. An environmental demonstration in Saint Soline, in the west of the country, on Saturday ended with heavy clashes between participants (the government says most of them extremists) and the security forces. Two protesters are in a coma and their families have filed lawsuits for attempted murder.

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  • Emmanuel Macron
  • France