France in a Frenzy

By Alex Wong

Liberté,Egalité,Fraternité.These are the three values upon which French society is constructed. The values of the French Revolution continue to reverberate through the republic. However, these sacred values are coming under fire from the very top of French society. On March 16, President Emmanuel Macron enacted Article 49-3 (equivalent to an Executive Order) of the French Constitution to ram his pension reform plan through the National Assembly. His decision has sparked widespread protests nationally, with citizens taking to the streets in the biggest protests since the 2019 Yellow Jacket Revolution. While the Macron government argues that raising the pension age has been a long time coming, many citizens feel that their decision is a clear abuse of dictatorial powers. Despite the cries of the French people, and even calls for the formation of a Sixth French Republic, Macron is showing no signs of reneging on his pension plan.

Since France is a social democracy, pensions are one of many social benefits that French citizens enjoy as a result of their high taxes. Each French citizen is required to pay 1200 Euros ($1327) into the pension system. In return, French citizens are entitled to collect 50% of their annual income from the government when they retire (with deductions depending on how many quarters are missed) (OECD). Many French citizens take great pride in their social welfare state, as its benefits far surpass those of any neighboring country. Its pension system is ranked 7th in all of Europe (7th highest pension paid per month to the cost of living), while countries like the Netherlands and UK rank 14th and 16th, respectively (Breakeven). Accordingly, the price of the pension and welfare systems is high. The French government allocates nearly 15% of its $3 trillion GDP towards its pension system. However, the Macron government has long argued that an increasing life expectancy and decreasing birth rates have made France’s welfare state unsustainable. Macron’s plan to remedy the situation is to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 (below the European average of 65 years). By increasing the retirement age, the French government will receive much-needed tax dollars and prevent billions of Euros from unnecessarily inflating the deficit.

Macron’s plan has been widely controversial from the start. The centrist Macron swept into office on a wave of right-wing skepticism for populist opposition candidate Marine Le Pen. Due to his past as a former investment banker, many of Macron’s past policies have been deemed too harsh on the middle class and too light on the rich. As such, many French citizens have long considered Macron to be an elitist. This new pension policy is no different. It is widely believed that instead of covering the deficit by raising taxes on France’s one percent, Macron is unfairly punishing the working class. After all, working two extra years in a factory is much more taxing than working two extra years in an office. Macron had already tried to pass his pension reform plan in 2019, which resulted in the chaotic 2019 Yellow Jacket Revolution. The Yellow Jacket Revolution saw massive protests and nationwide strikes, grinding the entire nation of France to a halt.

Spring 2023

Macron’s 2019 austerity campaign was stifled by the need to combat the COVID-19 Pandemic, and his plans were shelved. However, after winning a second term as president, Macron thought that a new mandate from the people would allow him to pass pension reform. He was gravely mistaken. Almost immediately after he announced his plans, protests erupted across the nation. The French people refused to show up to work, labor unions called strikes, and images of garbage piling up around the streets of Paris began to appear on news channels worldwide. However, the worst was yet to come. Macron, who did not command a majority in the National Assembly after the 2022 Elections, completely bypassed the parliamentary process by invoking Article 49-3. This blatant abuse of power in the face of massive protests further inflamed tensions across the country. It became evident that Macron no longer cared about the French people, instead acting for his own personal interests. As the streets of Paris, Leon, Bordeaux, and numerous other cities across the nation burned, Macron’s approval ratings tanked, and a vote of no confidence was called against Macron. Despite surviving the vote of no confidence and scheduling talks with union leaders, it has become clear that Macron has no respect for the democratic values of the French Republic or the cries of the French people. He is willing to see his nation burn to realize his vision of the republic. Much like how Napoleon trampled the ideals of the French Revolution by becoming Emperor of the French, Macron has completely neglected the core values of the French Republic, choosing instead to go his dictatorial route. Macron has pressed his advantage since ramming his pension reform through the National Assembly and down the throats of the French people. Macron’s government has proposed a mandatory portrait law, which, if passed, would require a picture of the French President to hang in every town hall, much like the local councils of dictatorships like China and North Korea (Chrisafis). Macron has also been distancing himself from American influence, proudly writing that “Europe needs more factories and fewer dependencies’’ (Macron). Despite his opposition to America and “foreign influence,” he has increasingly warmed up to China. Visiting Beijing shortly after passing his pension reform, Macron argued that Europe should be dissuaded from being drawn into a conflict over Taiwan and instead focus on the island’s “strategic autonomy.” He has also supported China’s efforts to be a mediator in the Russian-Ukrainian War, raising alarm bells in the West (Jett). Macron continues to be impervious and out of touch with the concerns of the French people, wearing an 80,000 euro luxury watch during an interview in the Elysee Palace as Paris burned around him (before discreetly removing it halfway through the interview).

As France continues down the path of autocracy and authoritarianism, and as the will of the French people continues to be ignored, the Fifth French Republic is quickly disintegrating. The story of France and its current situation should serve as a warning to other first-world countries. After all, if France, the home of Enlightenment values like liberty, justice, and universal human rights, can descend into autocracy, what is stopping the rest of the world?

Works Cited

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Jett, Jennifer. “China celebrates Macron as U.S. and Europe fret over divisions.” NBC News, 19 Apr. 2023, www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-celebrates-macron-us-europe-divisions-taiwan-rcna79486. Accessed 16 May 2023. Macron, Emmanuel. “Europe needs more factories and fewer dependencies.” Financial Times, www.ft.com/content/7ff1123d-51b1482c-ba86-b3a95a347df9. Accessed 16 May 2023.

Ray, Saptarshi. “How do retirees in France really fare?” Al Jazeera, 27 Apr. 2023, www. aljazeera.com/economy/2023/4/27/how-do-retirees-in-france-really-fare#:~:text=While%20 the%20relatively%20early%20age,and%20Luxembourg’s%203%2C300%20euros%20(%24. Accessed 16 May 2023.

Robinson, Samuel. “Pension breakeven index: How does the UK state pension compare to the rest of Europe?” Almond Financial, 26 Apr. 2023, www.almondfinancial.co.uk/pensionbreakeven-index-how-does-the-uk-state-pension-compare-to-the-rest-of-europe/. Accessed 16 May 2023.

Rosman, Rebecca. “Emmanuel Macron compared to a ‘cult leader’ over mandatory portrait law.” The Telegraph, 12 May 2023, www. telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/05/12/emmanuel-macron-compared-cult-leader-mandatory-portrait-law/. Accessed 16 May 2023.