The French government has made significant concessions to unions in the conflict over pension reform that has led to crippling nationwide strikes, according to media reports yesterday.
The pension reform would temporarily exclude the provision that French citizens would only be eligible for a full pension starting at the age of 64, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said in a letter to the social partners, the reports said.
The government was “ready to temporarily lift the crucial age of 64”, Philippe wrote to the unions.
The prime minister was seeking common ground with more moderate trade unions such as France’s biggest, the CFDT.
The CFDT and allies had suggested that the government must withdraw plans to raise the standard age for retirement on a full pension from 62 to 64 as part of the reform.
The CFDT welcomed the move yesterday.
This shows the will of the government to find a compromise, the union said in a message.
The CFDT therefore plans to continue discussions within the new proposed framework.
In the letter to the unions, Philippe also advocated a conference on how to fund the pension system permanently.
This proposal came from the CFDT union.
The government’s concession did not bring an immediate end to the ongoing strikes in local and long-distance public transport in Paris that started on December 5.
The Paris public transport company announced that disruptions will continue today.
Hardline trade unions took to the streets around France yesterday for a fifth straight day of protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform plans.
Media reports said there were tens of thousands of people out on the streets of Paris alone.
The Paris Opera cancelled its performance yesterday because of the strike, apologising to its audience in a statement.
With the pension reform, opera staff would lose many of their privileges.
A number of concerts have been called off due to the strike in previous weeks.
And yesterday, the union leading the transport strike is “more determined than ever” to stop pension reform despite a new government overture, it said.
The CGT union added in a statement that “the government just confirmed to the unions that it would maintain the proposed law in its current form”.
It called the government’s proposal to withdraw a core measure that would have in effect raised the retirement age by two years “a smokescreen to get some unions to sign on” to the overall reform.
Philippe said on Friday that he remained determined to replace France’s 42 existing pension systems with one national system, a major manifesto pledge of centrist President Macron.
He also insisted on sticking to a timetable that would see the reforms approved by the cabinet on January 24 and brought before parliament by mid-February for enactment before the summer.
Some 452,000 people joined protests called by hardline unions against the reform plans on Thursday, according to official estimates.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner reacted to criticism of excessive police violence, saying that using violence must always be controlled and adequate.
Prosecutors took up investigations into a police officer accused of firing rubber bullets at a protester at close range.
Earlier this month, a scooter driver in Paris died in hospital after a police stop turned violent.