POLICY OF IMPERFECTION

It seems France have once again stepped on a black line of strikes, demonstrations and mass protests caused by the unpopular measures President Emmanuel Macron and the Elisabeth Borne government  are planning to implement. By and large, the situation is an evidence of a serious crisis in the French domestic politics particularly tangible amid Macron’s obvious diplomatic failures.

Against pension reform

Political situation in France has heated up following the release of a draft pension reform by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. Its key provision is to increase the retirement age by three months each year, which implies that it will rise from the current 62 to 64 years by 2030. The proclaimed aim of the government is to establish a balanced pension system that would prevent further deficit expansion. Otherwise, the government believes the shortfall in the French pension fund will be almost €20 billion in seven years.

Pension reform is considered a matter of principle for President Macron, having been among his priority campaign promises. He planned to introduce it during his first presidential term, which began in 2017. However, both the public discontent manifested through riots and protests and the pandemic forced the authorities to postpone the implementation of the project for better times.

But the ongoing events in France demonstrate that the society is still opposed to the reform, which the authorities intend to introduce basically to compensate for the ageing of society and the pension deficit at the expense of the material interests of large segments of population. This serious social discontent is confirmed thanks to comprehensive researches (in particular by the French Institute of Public Opinion, IFOP), showing that almost 70% of the French disapprove of the pension reform, and mass protests in all major cities of the country.

The organisers of rallies are the eight largest trade unions of France. They warn that the planned reform will hit hard "all working French people", especially those who start their working lives early and whose life expectancy is lower than the national average. Trade union leaders believe the problem of public sector deficits, which can lead even to the potential state default, must be tackled through other options for financing pensions. For example, taxing the very rich and increasing employer contributions.

Strong protests against the pension system reform were held on January 19, when many schools, industrial companies, in particular the energy companies, were on strike, with rail and urban transportation sharply restricted, and flights at airports in Paris cancelled. Demonstrations in Paris, Lyon, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Nice and other cities have been attended by almost two million people, according to different data. Protests have been accompanied by clashes between protesters and police. The use of violence against protesters by law enforcement agencies and the arrests of dozens of people confirmed that France, which positions itself as one of the bastions of global democracy, is currently experiencing a serious crisis, including in the area of democratic development.

Macron as an agent of misfortune

Leaders of protest movements have announced further large-scale events. But even the current action wave seems to be a continuation of the yellow vest movement that swept France in 2018-2019 because of the fuel tax increase and digressed only with the start of the pandemic in 2020.

Similar to the situation with the current protests, yellow vests have been also subject to harsh police measures, including the use of tear gas and rubber bullets. One of the leaders of the yellow vests, Jerome Rodriguez, lost his eye. The widespread media coverage of the police violence, which outraged the French public and damaged the image of Paris on the international stage, forced the authorities to go for concessions. The vests succeeded in getting the government to allocate some €17 billion to help the poor and reduce taxes on the middle class.

How is Macron going to deal with the current situation, which is expected to continue with mass protests? After all, as during the yellow vest protests, the slogans may well transform from purely economic to political and anti-government, including the demand for the resignation of the president.

But at least so far the president and the prime minister have expressed their intention to introduce the pension reform, despite massive discontent and protests. Moreover, the Borne cabinet has explicitly indicated that if the reform is not supported by the  parliamentary majority, the prime minister will use Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which provides for the bill to be passed without a vote, provided there is no vote of inconfidence in the incumbent government. Incidentally, the protest leaders insist that the government stop the frequent use of this constitutional article, which Prime Minister Borne has resorted to repeatedly in the past few months.

All these contradictions, however, are only part of the overall picture of the crisis. Mass protests have been a headache for the incumbent French president since his election. This is not accidental, as Macron's domestic policy, especially his socio-economic policies, have worsened the welfare of a significant portion of the population. In order to overcome the growing protest sentiments, the president has found no other method than to ignore the demands of protesters and to use police violence against them.

By the way, similar methods are being applied to the growing separatist movement in Corsica. The situation on this rebellious island escalated after last year's protests and riots triggered by the attack on Ivan Colonna, a Corsican nationalist serving a life sentence for the murder of police prefect Claude Erignac in 1998. The situation had worsened to the point that the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC) threatened to resume armed struggle for independence.

Meanwhile, the intensification of the Corsican liberation movement should also be interpreted as a reaction to Macron's failure to keep his word. He promised during his election campaign to grant Corsica some kind of autonomous status, but he has not taken any practical steps. The French president also ignored an appeal by the FLNC leader Gilles Simeoni to negotiate more autonomy for the island. This is not surprising, as Paris does not have any real intention to implement any of the demands that impinge on the sovereignty, territorial integrity and unitary republicanism of France. These include, in particular, the demand that the Corsican language be recognised as an official language to be used same as the French language in all areas of public and state life. Yet another demand of Corsicans is to end repressions against the leaders of the Corsican movement, some of whom have been imprisoned for many years.

Hypocrisy or incompetence?

Amid such a tough position of Paris towards own separatists undermining the territorial integrity of France, it seems inconsistent, to say the least, and in fact hypocritical for President Macron to openly support threats to the sovereignty and integrity of other countries. Particularly of Azerbaijan, which the Macron-led French government has targeted with unjust resolutions and openly hostile steps that ignore Azerbaijan's sovereign right on the entirety of its internationally recognised territory.

Meanwhile, the recent problems in Azerbaijani-French relations are only part of President Macron's failed international policy. Particularly in North and West Africa, the regions of France’s traditional influence, where the latter has significantly weakened its positions. It is noteworthy that mass demonstrations demanding the removal of France's political influence and military presence are taking place in Burkina Faso in parallel with protests in major French cities against Macron's policies.

Thus, in the core of the current crisis in France are President Macron's domestic and foreign policy failures, which have a negative synergetic effect. One of the leading European powers is facing serious challenges, with little or no indication that the incumbent French leader is capable of overcoming them successfully.