French President Emmanuel Macron will address the nation this Monday, facing warnings that the political and social crisis caused by the changes is not over yet, for the first time since signing into law his controversial pension reform, France-Presse (AFP) reported April 17 ).
Macron signed the law into law early Saturday morning, just hours after the French Constitutional Court approved the main point of the reform he initiated – raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
After three months of protests and strikes, leftists and unions have vowed not to give up and have warned of mass Labor Day protests on May 1st.
Polls have consistently shown that a majority of French people still oppose the reform, which the government has effectively rammed through parliament, using a controversial mechanism to pass it without a vote in the legislature, AFP notes.
Meanwhile, Macron’s personal popularity rating has declined, with some analysts suggesting that he is now trailing the far-right leader. Marine Le Pen on the way to the 2027 elections.
The French press widely dubbed the Constitutional Court’s approval of the pension reform a Pyrrhic victory for the owner of the Elysee Palace.
Government Spokesperson Olivier Veran announced earlier that the appeal of the head of the Fifth Republic to fellow citizens will be in the spirit of “appeasement”.
Meanwhile, the leader of the powerful union CGT Sophie Binet said last Sunday in an interview with regional newspapers that Macron was “on track to become the president of chaos.”
