How Emmanuel Macron responds will determine whether the leader of the EU’s second-biggest economy and foremost military power can keep modernising France and shaping Europe
Now, though, Mr Macron faces trouble on both fronts. His authority is being tested in the National Assembly and on the streets at home, and his leadership’s second-biggest economy and foremost military power can keep modernising France and shaping Europe.
Mr Macron’s domestic woes concern his plan to raise the minimum pension age from 62 to 64. The French live almost a decade longer than in 1980, and spend longer in their deckchairs than their neighbours. Without reform, the pension system faces an annual deficit of €14bn by 2030. But Mr Macron has failed to persuade the French that his fix is the right one. Last year voters denied him a majority in parliament. Now unions want to defeat his projectThis pension reform is necessary for France.
If Mr Macron cannot secure parliamentary support before the deadline of March 26th, he could still force the reform through. But that would be best avoided. Left-wing opposition parties have repeatedly sought to create havoc and derail parliamentary procedure. They would seize any chance to declare the reform illegitimate. The centre-right opposition has behaved dishonourably too, reluctant to back a change that, in 1995 and 2010, it also proposed. It has no excuse for not supporting the reform.
A more robust Europe, faced with the threat from autocratic powers and the risk of excessive reliance on America, needs a strong France. Mr Macron is now one of Europe’s most experienced leaders. He brims with ideas, many of them good, and commands a fine diplomatic machine. This is a critical moment. He cannot afford to get it wrong.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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