Tag: pension reform

Riots, protests and climate uprisings: 2023 was a tumultuous year in France

Post By World , , , , , , , , , ,

France encountered severe turbulence over the past 12 months, roiled by a long and bitter battle over pension reform as well as crippling droughts, sizzling heatwaves and nationwide rioting. FRANCE 24 takes a look at some of the top stories from a year of turmoil.

Even by French standards, 2023 was a year of exceptional social unrest, marked by France’s largest protest movement this century and the worst bout of rioting in almost two decades. From start to end, President Emmanuel Macron’s minority government struggled to pass legislation in a fractious and bitterly divided parliament, often opting to bypass it altogether. Severe droughts and unseasonal heatwaves pushed the life-threatening challenges of climate change to the fore, while a nationwide bedbug frenzy brought unwanted attention from abroad as the country hosted the Rugby World Cup and raced to prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

  • Pension battle ends in Pyrrhic win for Macron

A montage of President Emmanuel Macron as the “Sun King” Louis XIV at a protest against pension reform in Paris on March 23, 2023. © Benjamin Dodman, FRANCE 24

Macron kicked off the year with a push to overhaul France’s pension system, setting the stage for a showdown with a united front of unions. The French president staked his reformist credentials on passage of the flagship reform, which raised the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 – a step his government said was necessary to balance the books amid shifting demographics. Unions countered that the reform would disproportionately affect low-skilled workers and women, successfully framing the pension debate as part of a wider fight for social justice.

The months-long tussle saw opponents of the reform stage multiple rounds of strikes and protests, drawing huge crowds in cities, towns and even villages across France. Refinery shutdowns and transport strikes caused travel chaos while a walkout by rubbish collectors kicked up a “great stink” in the streets of Paris – though unions ultimately failed in their bid to “paralyse” the country. Throughout the standoff, polls consistently showed that a large majority of the French opposed the reform, piling the pressure on a government already outnumbered in parliament.

Violence flared in late March when Macron ordered his government to ram the reform through parliament without a vote, using special executive powers. The move sparked several nights of unrest and turned the festering social dispute into a crisis of French democracy. Police crackdowns and controversial rulings by France’s constitutional court helped snuff out the movement, handing Macron a pyrrhic victory – though in the weeks that followed he could scarcely take a step outside the Élysée Palace without being greeted by protesters banging pots and pans.

  • Teen’s death sets off nationwide riots

Fireworks target French riot police during protests in Nanterre, west of Paris, on June 28, 2023.
Fireworks target French riot police during protests in Nanterre, west of Paris, on June 28, 2023. © Zakaria Abdelkafiz, AFP

Running battles between riot police and pension protesters revived a long-standing debate on police brutality in France – with human rights monitors both at home and abroad raising the alarm over officers’ “excessive use of force”. The scrutiny only increased in late June when towns and cities across the country erupted in rage at the killing of Nahel M., a 17-year-old of North African origin who was shot dead by police during a routine traffic stop in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

Social media footage of the incident, which contradicted police claims that Nahel had posed a threat to officers, kicked off several nights of rioting in France’s deprived and ethnically diverse suburbs, known as banlieues, where non-white youths have long complained of being singled out by police. Rioters focused their attacks on symbols of the state, including police stations, schools and town halls. The Interior Ministry said that more than 1,000 buildings and 5,000 vehicles were torched. 

In a rare criticism of the police, Macron described the fatal shooting as “inexplicable” and “unforgivable”, while the UN’s human rights office urged France to “seriously address the deep issues of racism and discrimination in law enforcement”. However, the initial expressions of outrage soon gave way to hardline law-and-order rhetoric amid consecutive nights of rioting. And as police unions openly spoke of battling “vermin” and “savage hordes”, analysts feared the real lessons of Nahel’s killing – like other past tragedies – would not be learned.

A protester holds up a Palestinian flag at an unauthorised rally in solidarity with Gaza held in central Paris on October 12, 2023.
A protester holds up a Palestinian flag at an unauthorised rally in solidarity with Gaza held in central Paris on October 12, 2023. © AFP

When the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas launched a murderous attack on southern Israel on October 7, triggering a ferocious and devastating Israeli response, French authorities openly voiced concern that the conflict might stoke further unrest in France, home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim populations. 

A spike in anti-Semitic acts sowed anguish among French Jews and politicians of all stripes took part in a Paris march to denounce anti-Semitism, though the presence of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally led some opponents to shun the rally. Meanwhile, rights groups voiced dismay as the government banned pro-Palestinian protests on the grounds that they might “disturb public order”, until judges ruled that a blanket ban was unlawful. The war also sparked a rare dispute at an annual march against gender-based violence in Paris, signaling tensions between French feminists over their response to sexual crimes attributed to Hamas. 

Fears that the plight of Gaza would inspire Islamist militants to carry out attacks on French soil appeared to materialise on October 13 when a high-school teacher in northern Arras was stabbed to death by a radicalised former pupil who originated from Russia’s Ingushetia – reigniting the trauma of Samuel Paty’s beheading in 2020. In the days following the Arras stabbing, government ministers suggested the war in Gaza may have “precipitated” events, though investigators were yet to establish a formal link with the assailant, who had declared allegiance to the Islamic State group prior to the attack.

  • Far right hails hardline immigration law

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin spent much of the year trying to build support in parliament for a tough new immigration law.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin attends a session of questions to the government at The National Assembly in Paris on December 12, 2023. © Bertrand Guay, AFP

For Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, the Arras knife attack proved the need for new legislation making it easier to expel foreign nationals suspected of radicalisation. The hawkish minister had spent much of the year trying to build parliamentary support for a tough new “immigration law”, which rights groups condemned as repressive. His efforts appeared to have collapsed when opposition lawmakers banded together to shoot down the bill before it was even debated in the National Assembly. 

In response, the government submitted an even tougher law to win over right-wing lawmakers, introducing measures that discriminate between citizens and immigrants in terms of eligibility to benefits. The law was harsh enough for Le Pen to claim it as an “ideological victory” for her National Rally and its passage with support from the far right sparked a crisis within Macron’s ruling party, leading his health minister to resign in protest. In a rare move, a third of French regions vowed not to comply with some of its toughest measures. 

  • Droughts, heatwaves and climate uprisings

Burnt sunflowers pictured in a field near the village of Puy Saint Martin, in southeastern France, on August 22, 2023.
Burnt sunflowers pictured in a field near the village of Puy Saint Martin, in southeastern France, on August 22, 2023. © Jeff Pachoud, AFP

The ubiquitous Darmanin made headlines throughout the year as he ordered the disbanding of a range of groups he deemed extremist. They included the climate movement Les Soulèvements de la Terre (“Earth’s uprisings”), whose attempt to prevent the construction of controversial water reservoirs resulted in a pitched battle with police that left hundreds injured and two people in a coma. The interior minister accused the group of inciting “ecoterrorism”, but his attempt to ban it was quashed by France’s top administrative court.

The clashes at Sainte-Soline were indicative of mounting tensions between corporate farming and environmental activists as the country grappled with recurrent and increasingly unseasonal heatwaves, which put further stress on fragile ecosystems already weakened by crippling droughts. The climate emergency cast a spotlight on livestock farming and eating habits, with meat consumption the biggest contributor to food-related greenhouse gas emissions. 

Adapting the way farmers use water resources was one of 50 measures included in a water-saving plan unveiled in March, following an exceptionally dry winter. Extraordinary measures were required to help the Indian ocean island of Mayotte, where the worst drought in decades forced the government to send a military cargo ship stacked with drinking water. And in Paris, where scientists warned that temperatures could reach 50C by 2050, volunteers used a pioneering tree-planting method to create pocket forests offering shelter from the heat. 

  • Paris Olympics feel the heat

An illustration showing the concept for the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, to be staged on the River Seine.
An illustration showing the concept for the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, to be staged on the River Seine. © Florian Hulleu, AFP

As the French capital grappled with the challenges of climate change, organisers of next year’s Summer Olympics struggled to back up their pledge to make the Paris 2024 Games the “greenest” yet. In May, they backtracked on a promise to eliminate more greenhouse gas emissions than those generated by the event, while insisting Paris 2024 would still halve the carbon footprint of previous games. But delays to transport upgrades threatened to jeopardise emissions targets, while climate activists described carbon-offsetting plans as little more than “greenwashing”.

Ambitious plans to host the opening ceremony along the River Seine – rather than inside a stadium – also came under scrutiny as officials released an 11-page security protocol aimed at shielding the event from the threats of terrorism, drone attacks and other risks. The protocol triggered a rare protest by the French capital’s famed bouquinistes, whose iconic riverside book kiosks will be dismantled for the occasion. The Seine churned up more headaches for organisers when pollution levels repeatedly forced the cancellation of trials for swimming events set to be held in the river.

  • Hosts fall short at Rugby World Cup

France's captain Antoine Dupont (left) and lock Cameron Woki react after the hosts' quarter-final defeat at the Rugby World Cup.
France’s captain Antoine Dupont (left) and lock Cameron Woki react after the hosts’ quarter-final defeat at the Rugby World Cup. © Franck Fife, AFP

Doubts about France’s ability to host large sporting events had simmered since the Champions League final hosted at the Stade de France in May 2022, when French police notoriously doused Liverpool fans with tear gas and pepper spray amid a chaotic build-up marred by train strikes and issues of fake ticketing. This year’s Rugby World Cup, hosted at the same venue and in eight other French cities, was a chance for France to make amends and prove its readiness – a challenge organisers largely pulled off.

The seven-week rugby extravaganza kicked off with a memorable French win over old rivals New Zealand, which bolstered the home nation’s hopes of winning a maiden World Cup title. Those hopes took a blow when a fractured cheekbone stripped the hosts of their talismanic skipper Antoine Dupond. The fly-half returned with a face mask for the crunch quarter-final against title holders South Africa but could not prevent an agonising one-point defeat for Les Bleus. After edging England by the same margin in the semis, the Springboks went on to grab the narrowest of wins over the All Blacks in the final, clinching a record fourth World Cup title. 

  • Bedbugs, tiger mosquitoes and trotinettes

Self-service e-scooters were banished from the streets of Paris after a public consultation marked by record-low turnout.
Self-service e-scooters were banished from the streets of Paris after a public consultation marked by record-low turnout. © Thomas Coex, AFP

Midway through the tournament, concern over an increase in the number of bedbugs rapidly spiralled into national hysteria, with the bloodsucking pests making headlines both in France and abroad. Cinemas, trains and Paris metros were said to be crawling with the tiny insects and one lawmaker brandished a vial of bugs in the National Assembly, urging the government to address the “explosive situation”. But officials insisted there was no scientific evidence to suggest any explosion in bedbugs, and that images posted on social media did not necessarily mean growing numbers.

Health authorities appeared more concerned about the spread of the Asian tiger mosquito as evidence emerged that the black-and-white striped insect had settled in 71 of the country’s 96 mainland départements (administrative units). With climate change creating perfect conditions for its proliferation, experts warned that the invasive species threatened to spread diseases like zika, dengue and chikungunya.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo tackled a very different type of nuisance when she called a referendum on banning self-service e-scooters, citing irresponsible use and a rising accident toll. The April vote was billed as a showdown between trottinettes-hating boomers and Gen Z, the service’s main users. But only the former showed up for the low-turnout ballot, and the e-scooters were duly banished from the streets of Paris.

  • Ukrainian art, Gainsbourg and a fiery Palme d’Or

This Byzantine icon of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, dating from 6th-7th centuries, went on show at the Louvre after it was evacuated from Ukraine.
This Byzantine icon of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, dating from 6th-7th centuries, went on show at the Louvre after it was evacuated from Ukraine. © Khanenko Museum

As always, the French capital’s museums and galleries served up an abundance of art shows, dedicated to the likes of Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall and Berthe Morisot. Paris exhibits showcased Ukrainian art work evacuated following Russia’s invasion last year, taking the fight for the country’s heritage to the world-famous Louvre. Photographer Robert Doisneau’s little-known work forging documents during the Nazi occupation was the subject of a groundbreaking show near Paris, and the iconic Left Bank home of singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg finally opened to the public – its ashtrays still brimming with Gitanes cigarette butts.

Down on the Riviera, French director Justine Triet won the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or for her thrilling courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall” – becoming only the third female director to win cinema’s most prestigious award. But it was a bittersweet success for Macron and his ministers, whose cultural policies and conduct during France’s pension battle she proceeded to rubbish in a fiery acceptance speech broadcast live on national television.

Source link

#Riots #protests #climate #uprisings #tumultuous #year #France

Macron walks tightrope as French police protest challenges rule of law

Post By World , , , , , , , , ,

French President Emmanuel Macron has declined to condemn the country’s top police chiefs for appearing to suggest officers were above the law, seeking to stave off unrest among security forces wearied by repeated bouts of street violence. Critics, however, lament a missed opportunity to reassert the state’s authority over an increasingly restless police force.

Just weeks after the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel M. kicked off massive riots across France, the country’s top police official sparked a fresh row on Sunday by slamming the decision to jail an officer whose actions during the unrest are being investigated. 

The controversial remarks by national police chief Frédéric Veaux were aimed at staving off a revolt in the southern city of Marseille, where officers have staged a rare walkout in protest at a court decision to remand one of their colleagues in custody. 

Police clash with protesters in the streets of Nanterre, near Paris, on June 30, 2023, following the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Nahel M. © Gonzalo Fuentes, Reuters

The jailed policeman is one of four officers placed under investigation over the alleged beating of a 21-year-old man of North African origin, who has undergone multiple surgical procedures and had part of his skull removed after what he said was a deliberate attack by police using an LBD blast-ball gun. 

“Knowing that (the officer) is in prison stops me from sleeping,” Veaux said in an interview with French daily Le Parisien, after travelling to Marseille to bring a message of support to police from Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. 

“In general, I believe that ahead of a possible trial, a police officer should not be in prison, even if he may have committed serious faults or errors in the course of his work,” Veaux added in remarks backed by Paris police chief Laurent Nunez, France’s second-highest-ranking officer. 

The comments promptly raised eyebrows among members of the judiciary, who denounced an attack on their independence and the principle of equality before the law. 

Cécile Mamelin, the vice president of the Union of Magistrates, described Veaux’s words as “scandalous” and “extremely serious in a state of law”, while Marseille’s top judge Olivier Leurent issued a statement urging “restraint so that the judiciary can pursue the investigation (…) free from pressure and in complete impartiality”. 

Macron on the police in France


Meanwhile, the left-wing opposition blasted the government for failing to rein in “a police hierarchy that places itself above the law”.  

Macron’s balancing act 

France’s latest policing dispute caught up with Macron as he touched down in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia on Monday, some 16,000 kilometres away, for the start of an Indo-Pacific tour. 

The French president steered clear of commenting both on Veaux’s remarks and the judicial decision to remand the officer in custody. Pressed for a response, he stressed that “no one in the Republic is above the law” and that the police “obviously (…) fall under the law”. 

Above all, Macron praised police in the face of “an unprecedented surge of violence” during the riots, in which some 900 law enforcement officers were injured. He said he understood “the emotions of our officers”, adding that they “must be heard while respecting the rule of law”. 

Read moreMacron government shifts stance on police violence to quell unrest after death of teen

His choice of words reflected the government’s concern at the mounting anguish voiced by police after a gruelling year marked by rioting and sometimes violent protests, said Jean-Marc Berlière, a historian of the French police. 

“There is widespread discontent and a sense of injustice among police officers who feel that they are sacrificing their lives and well-being to maintain public order – while being finger-pointed and reprimanded in return,” Berlière said. 

He cited the increasingly vocal criticism of police’s heavy-handed tactics, both at home and from abroad, which has seen rights groups, the Council of Europe and the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association each voice their concern at French police’s “excessive use of force” in tackling protests against Macron’s deeply unpopular pension reform, which the government rammed through parliament in March without a vote. 

While police cannot go on strike, Berlière added, “the government is also well aware of the risk of further roiling a police force that is still perfectly capable of paralysing law enforcement.” 


Over the past week, several hundred police officers in Marseille have gone on sick leave in protest over their colleague’s detention, according to unnamed union sources. Others have put themselves under so-called “code 562”, which means that they only respond to emergency and essential missions. 

While the exact numbers are not known, they are sufficiently high to alarm the authorities in Paris, said Berlière.

“In recent months, the government has already seen its legitimacy challenged by street protesters and parts of the opposition,” he said. “It cannot afford a challenge from the police, too.”   

Seeking to stave off further unrest in the ranks, France’s interior minister on Thursday said he understood the frustration and anger voiced by overworked security forces after repeated bouts of street violence.

“I want to say that I can understand this fatigue, sadness and emotion,” Darmanin said before heading into a meeting with police union representatives. He also urged police not to let down the population and serve the public interest.

A crisis of authority 

Critics of Macron’s cautious response have argued that it trivialises what amounts to a serious challenge to the rule of law. 

In an editorial on Wednesday, French daily Le Monde described the president’s stance as an “admission of weakness” in the face of a police force that “is becoming increasingly difficult to control”. 

A noted police expert, Sebastian Roché, tweeted his concern about what is at stake, warning that the police chiefs’ comments undermined the “cardinal principle” of equality before the law. 

In an interview with investigative weekly Mediapart, Roché said Macron’s words left the impression that “he doesn’t really know, or at best doesn’t appreciate, the extent of this unprecedented transgression under the Fifth Republic”. 

The president’s refusal to comment on Veaux’s remarks “reflects his political weakness and fragility”, he added. “It’s as if he were saying ‘I’m not in charge’.” 

Speaking to FRANCE 24 at the height of the pension unrest earlier this year, Roché described the police crackdown on protests as a consequence of both a French policing tradition and the government’s fragility. 

Heavy-handed policing stems from the “crisis of authority” undermining Macron’s minority and deeply unpopular government, Roché explained. “When a government chooses force it is always because its authority is weakened,” he added. 

Read moreUse of force signals ‘crisis of authority’ as France’s pension battle turns to unrest

Echoing such views, political analyst Emmanuel Blanchard argued in an interview with left-leaning daily Libération that the government’s reliance on law enforcement to quell social unrest “has weakened its position in relation to the police”. 

“It’s a cyclical trend: the less popular legitimacy the government enjoys, the more it relies on the forces of law and order, which it needs to suppress social movements,” Blanchard explained. “So it gives them (the police) guarantees. This leads to forms of empowerment, which can lead to protests like the one we are currently seeing.” 

A history of unrest   

France has a long history of police protests and unrest – one governments are well aware of. 

“Contrary to what is commonly assumed, the police are not always a passive and obedient instrument in the hands of the executive power,” Berlière noted. “One doesn’t have to be a historian to have some idea of the perils for a government of alienating law enforcement.” 

In 1958, widespread police unrest helped precipitate the fall of the troubled Fourth Republic, a parliamentarian regime that was replaced by the current presidential system instituted by World War II hero Charles de Gaulle. 

Decades later, in March 1983, some 2,000 officers marched on the justice ministry in Paris calling for the removal of Robert Badinter, the justice minister who helped abolish the death penalty and whom they deemed soft on crime. That move backfired, however, as then-president François Mitterrand swiftly moved to dismiss France’s top police chiefs and punish union leaders. 

“If certain police officers, an active minority, have failed in their duty, the duty of those in charge of the Republic is to strike and ensure that the authority of the state is respected,” Mitterrand said in televised remarks that have resurfaced on social media in recent days, posted by critics of Macron’s more cautious approach. 

Such comparisons have little pertinence, Berlière argued, pointing to widely differing contexts. 

“Back in 1983 there were no riots and no street protests to be wary of,” he said. “And while the revolt against Badinter was led by a fringe, far-right union, Macron and his government are aware that hardline unions are more powerful today and that the officers’ protest in Marseille is broadly supported.” 

One thing that hasn’t changed is the longstanding animosity between the police and the judiciary, which has underpinned this and other disputes. 

In May 2021, police unions vented their anger at the justice system during a rally outside the National Assembly in Paris, attended by politicians of all stripes. Union leaders could be heard stating that “the police’s problem is the judiciary” and calling for “constitutional constraints” to be “breached”. 

Police protesters rally outside the National Assembly in Paris on May 19, 2021, venting their anger at a judiciary they deem too lax.
Police protesters rally outside the National Assembly in Paris on May 19, 2021, venting their anger at a judiciary they deem too lax. © Thomas Coex, AFP

Police unions routinely accuse the judges of being too lenient with criminals and too harsh with officers. Magistrates’ unions, meanwhile, accuse police authorities of “hijacking” the judiciary to repress protest movements, notably through the use of arbitrary or “preventive” arrests that seldom lead to prosecution. 

The comments by Veaux and Nunez, France’s most senior police officials, take the dispute to a new level, reflecting the police hierarchy’s concern to appear in step with an increasingly disgruntled – and radicalised – base. 

“Many in the police perceive the decision to jail their colleague in Marseille as a case of judges abusing their powers and seeking to settle scores,” said Berlière, noting that officers are seldom remanded in custody pending a trial. 

“As for magistrates, they see the police action as a form of interference with the judiciary and of disregard for the separation of powers,” he added. 

‘Worrying silence’ 

In its editorial on Wednesday, Le Monde said Veaux’s remarks threatened to open “a new chapter in the war between police and the judiciary”, while also “calling into question the principles of the rule of law, namely the independence of the judiciary, the separation of powers and equality before the law”. 

In such a context, the newspaper expressed concern at the government’s “worrying silence”. 

Éric Dupond-Moretti, the justice minister, waited until Macron’s comments before tweeting that the independence of judicial officials is “an indispensable condition for respect of the rule of law”. 

His colleague at the interior ministry, who is Veaux’s direct boss, waited a full week before breaking his silence on the matter. In his comments on Thursday, Darmanin expressed support for the police chief, whose remarks in Le Parisien had been approved by the minister’s cabinet.

“Police officers cannot be the only people in France for whom presumption of innocence (…) is replaced by a presumption of guilt,” the minister told reporters outside a police station in Paris, in remarks that a representative body of French magistrates promptly described as an “alarming” attack on the judiciary’s “impartiality”.

Darmanin later told police unions he would examine their demands for greater protection for officers, including those facing legal investigations. He also pledged to visit Marseille in the coming days to express support for police in the southern city plagued by gang violence.

Overall, Macron and his ministers appear more concerned to “calm things down” than to reassert the state’s authority over the police, Le Monde wrote, pointing to a delicate balancing act as France prepares to host a series of major sporting events. 

With the country set to host the Rugby World Cup from September and the Olympic Games next year, Macron “certainly cannot afford the luxury of an open crisis with those who maintain public order”, the paper noted. 

But the president’s decision to shirk a fight will do little to appease the wider nation and address the root causes of urban riots in France, Le Monde cautioned, noting that the worst cases of rioting this century have been triggered by police blunders and that the country “is suffering from a very poor relationship between the police and a section of the population”. 



Source link

#Macron #walks #tightrope #French #police #protest #challenges #rule #law

Cannes’s ‘essential workers’ stage Carlton protest as French pension battle hits festival

Post By World , , , , , , , , ,

From our special correspondent in Cannes – A relentless downpour threw a wet blanket on the world’s premier film festival on Friday, but it did not stop Cannes’s “essential workers” from staging a protest outside the Riviera town’s most emblematic palace hotel – a prelude to a larger rally scheduled on Sunday.

France has been roiled by months of mass protests – the biggest in several decades – against a deeply unpopular pension overhaul that President Emmanuel Macron’s government rammed through parliament without a vote.

The protests, some of them violent, have prompted the local authorities in Cannes to order a ban on demonstrations within a broad perimeter around the Palais des Festivals and the town’s palm tree-lined boulevard, the Croisette.

Opponents of the reform, however, have warned that they won’t sit quietly during the festival – a prime showcase for France and one of the world’s most publicised events, luring visitors and media organisations from all corners of the world.

“Cannes isn’t just about glitter and bling. It’s about workers too, people without whom the festival wouldn’t even take place,” said Céline Petit, a local representative of the CGT trade union, which is spearheading the resistance against a reform Macron has already signed into law.

Having failed to overturn the protest ban in the courts, the CGT found a way around it, staging a small rally of hospitality workers on private grounds, just outside the front porch of Cannes’ best-known palace hotel, whose guests this year include the film icon and festival darling Martin Scorsese.

The protest took place a day after the world premiere of the fifth and final installment in the “Indiana Jones” saga. © Benjamin Dodman, FRANCE 24

The use of a private hotel meant the rally was technically allowed, on condition that the protesters – a mix of union representatives and workers from the hotel and catering industries – numbered no more than a few dozen.

Braving the rain, they unfurled a large banner that read, “No to pension reform”. The glitzy setting, with the entrance to the recently refurbished Carlton in the background, made up for the lack of numbers.

“Hotel staff don’t normally have a voice,” said Ange Romiti, a CGT member representing staff at the Carlton hotel. “This is our chance to get our message across when the eyes of the world are on Cannes.”

No porters, no festival

Macron’s flagship pension overhaul raises the country’s minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 and stiffens requirements for a full pension, a move the government says is required to balance the books amid shifting demographics.

Unions, however, say the changes are profoundly unfair, primarily affecting women with discontinuous careers and low-skilled workers who start their careers early and have physically draining jobs – the very “essential workers” who were feted during the Covid pandemic.

Without the Carlton’s 680 staff, and the thousands more employed in the Riviera town’s crucial hospitality sector, “absolutely nothing would happen in Cannes”, said Romiti. “But cleaners, porters, waiters, cooks – they’re all exhausting jobs, it’s impossible to keep going until 64,” he added.

The government has also faced fierce criticism over the timing of its reform, coming on the heels of the pandemic and amid a crippling inflation crisis.

“It certainly wasn’t an opportune move, let alone a classy one,” said Romiti. “Neither was it democratic,” he added, referring to the government’s use of special executive powers to get around parliament, despite an overwhelming majority of the French rejecting the reform.

>> Read more: ‘Democracy at stake’: French protesters vent fury at Macron over pension push

“Our democracy has taken a hit,” said the union representative. “It’s important that people keep up the fight and remind the government that this is not okay.”

Job insecurity

The protesters gathered outside the Carlton said the government’s controversial pension push threatened to exacerbate structural problems in an industry that is already grappling with severe shortages.

“Young people are abandoning these professions,” said Romiti, pointing to hiring difficulties. “They’ll be even less inclined to do them if it means lifting mattresses and carrying heavy trays at 64.”

The film industry itself faces a haemorrhage of jobs, said Mathilde, a festival worker who showed up at the Carlton protest in solidarity with hospitality staff. She is a member of the Collectif des précaires des festivals de cinema, which has launched a campaign to raise awareness of growing job insecurity in the industry.

Changing with the times?
Changing with the times? © france24

Mathilde said recent government cuts to unemployment benefits had made life impossible for the seasonal workers on whom film festivals depend, while the latest pension overhaul will make it harder for workers with interrupted careers to qualify for a pension.

“It’s just not worth it to work in festivals any more, and festivals can’t cope without us,” she said.

It’s a message the CGT also put forward ahead of the festival as it threatened to cut power during the 12-day film extravaganza, as well as at Roland-Garros and the Formula One GP in Monaco, in protest at the pension reform. The union hasn’t pulled the plug on Cannes, so far, but the threat remains.

Hollywood walkout

Often described as a celebrity bubble removed from the social context around it, the Cannes Film Festival has a long and rich history of social and political activism – from its pre-war roots in the left-wing Front Populaire to the May 1968 unrest that saw the likes of Jean-Luc Godard pull the curtain (literally) on the festival.

A founding member of the festival, the CGT still has a seat on the administrative board. It has planned another, larger protest on Sunday, this time further away from the Croisette. It will also host a screening of the 1988 documentary “Amor, Mujeres y Flores” (Love, Women and Flowers), about the effects of pesticides on women working in Colombian plantations.

This year’s festival is unspooling against the backdrop of labour unrest on both sides of the Atlantic, with US screenwriters staging a rare walkout.

The Writers Guild of America is seeking better pay, new contracts for the streaming era and safeguards against the use of Artificial Intelligence in writing scripts – a demand Hollywood studios have rejected.

Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival © Studio graphique France Médias Monde

The walkout has been a recurrent topic of discussion during the numerous press conferences in Cannes, with jury members throwing their weight behind the strike on the opening day of the festival.

“My wife is currently picketing with my 6-month-old, strapped to her chest,” said juror Paul Dano. “I will be there on the picket line when I get back home.”

On Thursday, Ethan Hawke wore a shirt that read “Pencils Down” during the presser that followed the screening of Pedro Almodovar’s 31-minute queer Western “Strange Way of Life”, which garnered rave reviews.

The next day, veteran actor and activist Sean Penn described the studios’ stance on AI as “a human obscenity” during a press conference for his new film, “Black Flies”, a gritty drama about New York paramedics directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire.

“The first thing we should do in these conversations is change the Producers Guild and title them how they behave, which is the Bankers Guild,” he said. “It’s difficult for so many writers and so many people industry-wide to not be able to work at this time. I guess it’s going to soul-search itself and see what side toughs it out.”

Source link

#Canness #essential #workers #stage #Carlton #protest #French #pension #battle #hits #festival

Scandal at the palace: Cannes 2023 kicks off with Johnny Depp’s royal comeback

Post By World , , , , , , , ,

The 76th Cannes Film Festival kicked off on Tuesday with the red-carpet premiere of French director Maïwenn’s historical drama “Jeanne du Barry”, about French king Louis XV’s scandalous relationship with a lowly courtesan, starring Johnny Depp as the monarch in a high-profile comeback that has generated plenty of controversy.

Scandal is a clichéd word in Cannes, commonly slapped onto just about anything that causes a stir on and off the screen.

There are the many sexist scandals, of course, such as the 2016 “Heelgate” controversy that saw women in flat shoes barred from the red carpet. That was followed a year later by the controversial airbrushing of Claudia Cardinale on the official poster for the 70th festival edition.

Naturally, the movies have sparked their fair share of clamour. Four years ago, Abdellatif Kechiche’s sexually-explicit, three-hour-long nightclub extravaganza “Mektoub my Love: Intermezzo” triggered a walkout by the lead actress during its gala premiere. The film has since vanished from the radars, still unreleased.

Other, older fracas are now part of Cannes folklore. They include the uproar that followed the unsimulated fellatio in Vincent Gallo’s “The Brown Bunny” (2003) or the gorging-to-death in Marco Ferreri’s “La Grande Bouffe” (1973), which saw people spit on the director as he exited the screening and jury president Ingrid Bergman reportedly throw up.

Fifty years on, another Swede – two-time Palme d’Or laureate Ruben Ostlund – heads the jury of the festival’s 76th edition, which opened on Tuesday with the screening of Maïwenn’s “Jeanne du Barry”, about an explosive scandal that roiled the court of Versailles in the 18th century.

It stars Johnny Depp as the French king Louis XV in his first role since his short-lived marriage with actress Amber Heard was raked over in lurid detail during a defamation trial in the United States.


 

Depp, 59, was feted by fans as he arrived at the Palais des Festivals, sporting a ponytail and shades. He spent several minutes schmoozing with the crowd, posing for selfies and signing autographs, before heading up the film world’s most famous red carpet for the gala premiere of Maïwenn’s curtain-raiser.

‘Impunity’

The film revolves around the king’s tumultuous relationship with his final mistress Jeanne du Barry, played by Maïwenn, a commoner and courtesan whose admission to the gilded palace of Versailles naturally causes an almighty scandal.

Depp signed up for the role of Louis XV before the start of a legal battle with his ex-wife involving bitter accusations of domestic violence that threatened to derail his career. He has since been axed from Harry Potter spin-off “Fantastic Beasts” following Heard’s abuse allegations, though he is a long way from being “cancelled”.   

The US star long beloved of the French has secured a record $20 million deal to remain the face of Dior fragrance, according to Variety last week. He is also set to direct Al Pacino in a biopic of artist Amedeo Modigliani later this year. Still, the decision to hand his comeback movie pride of place at Cannes has inevitably raised eyebrows.

In remarks to the press on Monday, Cannes director Thierry Frémaux defended the choice, praising Depp’s part in the film and saying he paid no attention to the trial. “To tell you the truth, in my life, I only have one rule, it’s the freedom of thinking, the freedom of speech and the freedom to act within a legal framework,” said Frémaux. “If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a film, or the film was banned, we wouldn’t be here talking about it.”

Johnny Depp pictured on the red carpet for the Cannes premiere of Maïwenn’s “Jeanne du Barry”. © Joel C Ryan, AP

Although the film is playing out of competition, members of the Palme d’Or jury were also asked about Depp’s presence during their traditional opening press conference. Outspoken MeToo supporter Brie Larson, star of “Captain Marvel”, looked flustered as she took a question on the subject, curtly replying: “I don’t know how I feel about it”.

Depp’s fall from grace is not the only controversy surrounding “Jeanne du Barry”, whose director has been a critic of the MeToo movement, once stating: “I hope men will catcall me in the street for the rest of my life”.

In March, a well-known French journalist, Edwy Plenel of the investigative news website Mediapart, lodged a criminal complaint for assault against Maïwenn, accusing her of approaching him in a restaurant, grabbing him by the hair and spitting in his face.

Maïwenn has admitted the assault in an interview on French TV, without going into details. Plenel said it may have been motivated by articles about the rape allegations surrounding Maïwenn’s ex-husband and father of one of her children, director Luc Besson (“The Fifth Element”), whom she married aged 16.

Her Cannes curtain-raiser comes just days after prominent actress Adèle Haenel (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”), a French icon of MeToo, announced she was giving up movie acting to “denounce the general complacency in our industry towards sexual abusers”. It prompted a group of 123 French film industry workers to denounce the festival in an open letter published by Liberation newspaper on Monday.

“By rolling out the red carpet to men and women who commit assaults, the festival demonstrates that violence in creative circles can be exercised with complete impunity,” read the article, whose signatories include Julie Gayet and Laure Calamy among other prominent actors.

Back to Versailles

Still only 47, Maïwenn already has a distinguished record at the world’s premier film shindig, having won the Jury Prize in 2011 with her breakthrough film “Polisse”. Four years later, her follow-up feature “My King” earned Emmanuelle Bercot a best actress award.

ENCORE!
ENCORE! © FRANCE 24

 

A grand costume affair shot on 35mm film in the Palace of Versailles, “Jeanne du Barry” signals a radical change of scale and style for the French filmmaker, whose $20 million movie was part-funded by Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Foundation. Its classicism is as rigid as the court protocol of Versailles, shirking the naturalism and improvisation that characterised her past work.

The film is also bizarrely chaste, limiting the famously libertine king’s last passionate love affair to playful giggles, adoring gazes and the odd kiss.

In a world where “gallantry” and rape are scarcely distinguishable, choosing to be a libertine “is one way of being a woman and also of being free”, says the voice-over narrator early on in the film, describing Jeanne du Barry as a “daughter of nothing, ready to do anything”.

Depp, who was previously married to French star Vanessa Paradis, gives a solid physical performance, though his dialogue is kept to short phrases that help disguise his American accent. Benjamin Lavernhe plays his stoic valet La Borde, while India Hair excels as the king’s daughter Adélaïde, hell-bent on expelling the “scandal” her father allowed into the royal palace.

There’s also Melvil Poupaud in the role of Jeanne’s earlier lover and pimp, the charming and ruthlessly self-serving Comte du Barry, though his and other parts remain underdeveloped in a film that is entirely absorbed with its titular character.

Maïwenn has described the film as the fulfilment of a 17-year dream. She said her interest in Jeanne du Barry came from watching Sofia Coppola’s Versailles-set “Marie Antoinette” (2006), in which Asia Argento played Louis XV’s mistress.

Like Coppola’s lush art album, “Jeanne du Barry” is set in a cocoon, a self-contained world of indulgence, lavish costumes and architectural wonder that shuts out the external world. But it lacks the boldness and inventiveness that powered “Marie Antoinette”.

It also lacks the deeply moving intimacy of Albert Serra’s haunting “The Death of Louis XIV” (2016), starring New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Léaud in an absorbing, candle-lit account of the Sun King’s final days in the palace he built.

A witty, working-class woman hungry for culture and pleasure, Jeanne du Barry is undoubtedly a more interesting character than poor-little-rich-girl Marie-Antoinette. But while Maïwenn’s own fascination with Louis XV’s favourite mistress is all too obvious on the screen, the film doesn’t quite make it contagious.

Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival © Studio graphique France Médias Monde

Source link

#Scandal #palace #Cannes #kicks #Johnny #Depps #royal #comeback

May Day march against pension reform: Protesters determined to ‘give it our all’

Post By World , , , , , ,

Thousands marched across Paris and other French cities in what unions hoped would be one of the biggest May Day demonstrations in years. Galvanised by previous protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform plans, including raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, protesters marched with a sense of determination. 

May 1 in Paris this year was much more than the usual celebration of workers and labour rights. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of the capital in a new show of anger against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform, which was forced through parliament in March.  

Monday marked the 13th day of mass mobilisations against the unpopular pension reform. Although the demonstration was smaller than many of those before it, protesters have kept up their morale and continued to take action over the course of several months.  

Many had wondered whether Monday’s demonstration would be the final hurrah, or prompt a second wind for opponents of the reform. 

Between shattered shop fronts and decorated convoys playing Beyoncé’s “Run The World”, participants on the ground seemed more determined than ever.   

‘Ready to give it our all’ 

At Place de la République, where the protest began, the mood was cheerful. Friends embraced after finding each other in the crowd and demonstrators posed for photos, holding up creative placards. Despite ongoing anger over the reforms, there was no sign of surrender.  

“I feel neither resigned nor hopeful,” said 45-year-old lawyer Ninon, who has regularly attended the pension protests. “But I do feel people are determined. We want concrete action, whether it’s about retirement or the environment.” 

Farm manager Alexandre, 47, echoed her conviction. He has attended every protest that has taken place in Paris since the start of the year. “We’ll keep going until the government withdraws the bill,” he said with a smirk. “I think the protests will keep happening. I really hope so, even though they’ve lost a bit of momentum. I loved coming out every Thursday.”  

Alexandre holding a sign that reads: “Oh Manu, you are going down,” referring to President Emmanuel Macron. © Lara Bullens, FRANCE 24

As demonstrators started making their way to the end point at Place de la Nation, about a 30-minute walk from République, the mood remained festive. Despite 5,000 gendarmes deployed especially for the occasion by French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, many police remained relatively far from the crowds, mostly checking bags of those entering. Although a police decree allowing authorities to use drones was passed ahead of the protest, their presence in the sky was not evident.  

Clashes did erupt in some places, with police firing tear gas in parts of Paris, Nantes and Lyon. The interior ministry said more than 290 people were arrested at protests across France.

Police violence is a worry that has chipped away at the determination of some protesters. “Though I am convinced they will continue, I fear the demonstrations will become increasingly violent, since more and more people feel they aren’t being heard,” said Ninon.  

Nathi and Lucie, two young students, said they were “ready to give it our all” to fight the reform. But after seeing friends of theirs arbitrarily arrested and held in custody during previous protests, they have become more wary. “Some friends have become scared of coming out to protest. That’s unacceptable in France in 2023,” said 19-year-old Lucie. 

“But our anger is stronger than the violence we’re subjected to.”    

Weighing options

A chorus of women singing a song condemning war, “Rue des Lilas”, captivated the attention of onlookers while brass bands roared in the background. Young demonstrators climbed on bus stops, others stopped to slap pinata-style effigies of Macron.  

Nathi became angry as she recounted how the government used Article 49.3 to force the pension bill through parliament without a vote in mid-March. “The way the reforms were passed was revolting,” she said.

Now protesters have pinned their hopes on a possible public referendum, an option that will be reviewed by the Constitutional Council on Wednesday. “A referendum is the only way the government will listen to us, seeing as these protests clearly aren’t working.”  

Though the reform has now become law, the French Constitutional Council is due to rule on a second request for a referendum, filed by left-wing MPs in April.

“We’ll take what we can get,” said Ninon, referring to the possibility of a referendum. “Anything other than this is good!”    

Protesters were weighing the options ahead of them, although there aren’t many. Some even made reference to 1995, when then prime minister Alain Juppé withdrew then president Jacques Chirac’s retirement reform after three weeks of widespread strikes.

>> Read more : A look back at when French protesters defeated government reform plans

“I don’t believe the government will backtrack, but it’s hard to say,” Lucie chimed in. “But that moment in history brings hope.”  

Proud of unions

May Day this year was the first time since 2009 that all eight of France’s main unions joined in calling for protests. Convoys for each union, white vans adorned with large colourful balloons, made their way to Place de la Nation, members trailing behind.  

Though farm manager Alexandre is not a union member, he expressed deep pride for their capacity to band together. “It’s great to see, it’s very special,” he said with a smile. “Their coming together allowed the protests to have a scope they wouldn’t have had otherwise, and that’s a huge victory.”  

According to French newspaper Libération, union membership has shot up since the protests began. The hard-left CGT union and France’s largest CFDT union both have 30,000 more members than they did three months ago, while the third-largest FO union counts an additional 10,000. With its 140,000 members, the Christian CFTC union surpasses memberships in the far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) party, the conservative Les Républicains and Macron’s centre-right Renaissance party combined.  

But for retirees Odile, Patricia and Jo, the victory is a small one compared to what needs to change. “France just celebrated 65 years of the Fifth Republic,” said 81-year-old Odile. “We think it’s time for a new republic.”  

Patricia, 75, agreed. “One where we don’t have a monarchical president. Where votes represent the diversity of political opinions present in France’s population.”  

“And one where we have a way to control elected officials,” added Jo, 83.  

“But the referendum is a pipe dream,” Patricia added. “We are not expecting much from Macron.”  

Odile (L) and Jo (R), both retired, say it's time for a Sixth Republic in France.
Odile (L) and Jo (R), both retired, say it’s time for a Sixth Republic in France. © Lara Bullens, FRANCE 24

As demonstrators approached the finish line at Place de la Nation, shattered glass littered the streets, evidence of clashes between police and protesters. As clouds of teargas filled the air, many tried to cling to the cheerful atmosphere they had experienced throughout the day.  

Source link

#Day #march #pension #reform #Protesters #determined #give

‘Macron resign!’: French president struggles to move on from pension controversy

Post By World , , , ,

Issued on: Modified:

French President Emmanuel Macron only just dodged another day of heckles and boos from opponents of the controversial pension reform. But a war of attrition aimed at the president and his government looks to have no sign of letting up, with pots and pans the weapons of choice.

President Macron’s first trip to a French region since signing his unpopular pension reform didn’t go down well. The photos and videos taken on Wednesday 19 April bear witness of the flop. Crowds of protestors booed as he stepped foot in the small town of Sélestat in eastern France’s Alsace region, banging pots and chanting “Macron resign!”

It was time to take new photos, tell a new story. That of a population who appreciates their president and who are in favour of the pension reform. Or at the very least, who understand the need to raise the legal retirement age from 62 to 64. So Macron did what he deemed necessary.

#PotsAndPans for Macron

The following day, Macron made his way to Ganges in southern France. But before his arrival, the president ordered police to keep protestors away from the school he would be visiting. A decree banning the use of “portable sound devices” was also issued by local authorities, to avoid any unwanted background noise. In other words, no pots or pans allowed.

 

The measures allowed Macron to carry out a rather peaceful exchange with students, who were all delighted to meet him. Later that afternoon, the president made an unscheduled stop in Pérols, a small town near Montpellier airport. With his blazer flung over one shoulder, he strolled nonchalantly through cobbled streets before sitting down to have a beer and some tapas, taking selfies with teens and chatting to locals who encouraged him to hold steady.

In the three months after announcing the deeply unpopular pension reform, Macron made very few public appearances to speak to voters. These trips outside of Paris are a way for him to signal his willingness to turn the page and show is he not hiding from voters, many of whom are outraged by the way the legislation was passed. And each stop has been carefully planned.

Inhabitants of the Hérault region where Macron made his second visit put him in third place during the first round of France’s 2022 presidential elections, with 22.28% of votes. In Pérols, that number reached 28.52%, granting Macron first place.

But will the shots of Macron drinking beer on a sunny terrace or chummily shaking hands with locals be enough for France to move on and accept the reforms? Can they erase three months of tensions, furious disputes and riots brought on by his deeply unpopular decision to reform France’s pension system? Nothing is less certain as his opponents seem determined to grind Macron’s administration and reforms down into the mire.

Unions disrupt Macron’s visit to Notre Dam

After his Monday night speech on primetime TV where he called for “100 days of calm discusion, a real action plan and unity for France”, Macron’s speech in fact annoyed the French public.

After organising months of record-breaking strikes and protests, French unions have turned to a form of permanent harassment with “unwelcome committees” aimed at disrupting each visit the president or his members of government have planned. French organisation Attac (Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens) even created an interactive map for all upcoming rallies.

In addition to the “unwelcome committees” organised by unions, other methods aimed at disrupting the nationwide visits have popped up. President Macron experienced power cuts while visiting a company in Muttersholtz, but also at Montpellier airport and at the school in Ganges, where he was forced to carry out his meeting in an outdoor playground.

During his visit to Notre-Dame on April 14, the CGT union managed to get their voices heard despite authorities evacuating the cathedral’s surroundings. Vehicles and even a typically Parisian “bateau-mouche” boat on the Seine drove around the premises with banners reading “Macron, quit!”

 

 

Left-wing political opponents urged supporters to bash pots and pans during his Monday TV address, and the age-old tactic has become an audible sign of anger at Macron’s policies. Hashtags like #MacronChallenge and PotandPanChallenge” have taken Twitter by storm to glavinise the public. 

Disrupted or cancelled visits

And so far, the new strategy adopted by French unions has worked. The list of disrupted visits keeps getting longer. 

On Wednesday evening, Digital Transition Minister Jean-Noël Barrot was greeted by dozens of protestors with pots and pans in Agen, where he was to hold a conference in a brewery. Union members then disrupted the event with a power cut, leaving participants in the dark.

A similar cacophonic concert of pot and pan bashing was granted to Ecology Minister Christophe Béchu on Wednesday in the Sarthe region, where a score of protestors held up a banner reading “the government perseveres, so do we”.

 

 

 

And on Friday afternoon, Health Minister François Braun was “welcomed” by 250 demonstrators in Montreuil who, bashing pots and pans, spoke to him about their opposition to the reform, an AFP journalist reported. 

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti decided to postpone a visit to a prison in southeast France “for a few weeks”, but his entourage insist that this is due to “judicial vacations”, not planned protests.

Secretary of State for Youth Sarah El Haïri cancelled her trip to Nantes, dedicated to the Universal National Service (SNU), a voluntary civil conscription service implemented by Macron in 2021. The event had to stop after one hour due to protests. And the Minister of Higher Education Sylvie Retailleau also cancelled a planned visit to the Saclay University in Paris, meant to take place on Tuesday

How long will these protest and disruptions last? No one knows. But the French Football Cup final on April 29, where the president typically greets players of both teams, and the new day of mass protest on May 1, Labour Day, is very much on everyone’s minds.

This article was translated from the original in French.

Source link

#Macron #resign #French #president #struggles #move #pension #controversy

France kicks off push to ‘appease’ nation with row over immigrant welfare fraud

Post By World , , , , , , , , ,

The French finance minister’s pledge to crack down on immigrants abusing France’s welfare system has triggered a fresh row in a country reeling from a bitter battle over pension reform, casting doubt on President Emmanuel Macron’s ability to deliver on a pledge to “appease” and unify the nation in a hundred days.

Macron has given himself until Bastille Day on July 14 to mend his broken rapport with the French, aiming for a rebound after a gruelling pension battle that has roiled the nation and deepened a crisis in French democracy.

The “hundred days” kicked off with a flurry of ministerial announcements on Tuesday that left little doubt as to the direction France’s minority government plans to take as it seeks to regain the initiative and find new allies in parliament.

While tax fraud – traditionally a priority of the left – got a brief mention, ministers put the focus squarely on the issue of welfare fraud, long a favourite topic of the right. They promised greater checks on a back-to-work welfare benefit scheme known as the RSA, using language typically espoused by critics of “assistanat” – a derogatory term used to refer to “scroungers” living on state handouts.

Speaking on LCI television, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin drew a line between RSA beneficiaries who “show an effort” and those who “should naturally be sanctioned”. His cabinet colleague Bruno Le Maire, the finance minister, took matters a step further, linking welfare fraud and immigration.

“The French are quite rightly fed up with this fraud. They’re sick and tired of seeing people eligible for benefits (…) sending the money to North Africa or elsewhere,” he said. “That’s not what our social model is for.”

The decision to single out immigrants for criticism was swiftly denounced by the left-wing opposition, which accused the government of once more pandering to the right and far right in a bid to divert attention from the battle over pensions.

>> Le Pen’s opposition to pension reform, focus on public order ‘pays off’ in polls

Tangiers-born Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the head of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), denounced a “new campaign” to target French nationals “who are Muslim or hail, like me, from the Maghreb”.

“Here’s a little dose of racism to start appeasing France,” tweeted the Greens’ Sandrine Rousseau, his partner in the left-wing Nupes coalition.

 

 

“The far right is dangerously filling up the government’s void,” added the Socialist leader Olivier Faure, who accused the government of peddling “racist prejudice to elude the fact that welfare fraud is mostly carried out by employers and bears no comparison with the scale of tax fraud”.

Echoes of Sarkozy

Statistics compiled by France’s top financial auditor, the Cour des comptes, show tax evasion in France eclipses social security fraud on a scale of up to 100 to 1.

“Welfare fraud amounts to between 1 and 3 billion euros per year, according to the Cour des comptes, whereas the cost of businesses cheating on social security contributions amounts to around 20 billion euros,” says Vincent Drezet, a spokesperson for the NGO Attac, best known for its calls for a Tobin Tax on financial transactions.

As for tax evasion, it amounts to a loss for the state’s coffers of “between 80 and 100 billion euros”, added Drezet, who previously headed France’s national union of revenue workers.

The scale of the problem is inversely proportional to the level of attention politicians dedicate to tax and welfare fraud respectively.

The emphasis on the latter “has been a constant theme for the past 25 years”, says Vincent Dubois, a professor of sociology at the University of Strasbourg and author of a book on state control of the “assistés” (those living on state handouts).

“While the unemployed have always been suspected of shirking efforts to find work, there was a marked shift in the 1990s when then Prime Minister Alain Juppé ordered the first parliamentary report into abuses by people benefiting from welfare programmes,” he said. “Welfare fraud has been a major topic ever since, particularly under Nicolas Sarkoy’s presidency, when ‘assistanat’ and ‘work ethic’ were constantly opposed.”

A similar rhetoric underpinned Macron’s past reforms that toughen the requirements to be eligible for unemployment benefits. During his re-election campaign, he pledged to make the RSA conditional on working 15 to 20 hours per week – a plan some unions have described as “forced labour”.

‘Foreign delinquency’

Meanwhile, treasury workers tasked with chasing after tax evaders have seen their resources dwindle, says Drezet, pointing to a 30% reduction in the number of tax controllers over the past decade.

“The state is increasingly underequipped to take on this task,” he lamented.

On Tuesday, the junior Budget Minister Gabriel Attal promised to unveil “strong measures” in the coming weeks to battle tax evasion, including doubling staff at a special unit that has recently carried out large-scale raids at banks suspected of tax fraud.

His announcement was largely eclipsed by Le Maire’s comments on immigrants abusing social security, which coincided with a promise by Darmanin to tackle “foreign delinquency” in a forthcoming immigration bill – a plan Macron revived on Monday after opting to put it on the back-burner at the height of the pension furore.


Macron after pension reform © france24

 

“There is clearly a renewed emphasis on welfare fraud, though this time it is explicitly associated with the subject of immigration,” said Dubois. “This summons a well-known fantasy: that behind the figure of the fraudster lies that of the immigrant who abuses the system.”

The strategy recalls the final stages of the “Grand National Debate” that Macron convened as an answer to the Yellow Vest crisis during his first term in office. Back then, the president proposed holding an annual debate in parliament on immigration as an answer to the “fiscal, territorial and social injustice” he said was voiced in the protests.

Commenting on the first steps of Macron’s latest action plan, former conservative leader Jean-François Copé spoke of a “belly dance” aimed at wooing lawmakers from the right-wing Les Républicains.

Day one of the plan was unlikely to appease the millions enraged by the government’s pension push. It may, however, have gone some way towards appeasing the handful of MPs it needs to cobble together a majority in parliament.

This article was translated from the original in French.

Source link

#France #kicks #push #appease #nation #row #immigrant #welfare #fraud

Macron’s action plan ‘rings hollow’ as critics take to the streets banging pots and pans

Post By World , , , ,

President Emmanuel Macron has given himself “a hundred days” to mend his broken rapport with the French, aiming for a rebound after a gruelling 100-day pension battle that has roiled the nation, infuriated millions, and deepened a crisis in French democracy.

The president’s latest reboot was, as expected, vintage Macron: the solemn tone striving for empathy, the talk of “better sharing wealth”, a reference to Napoleon’s “Hundred Days”, topped off by a parallel with the resurrection of Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The image conveyed by the Paris landmark’s dizzying spire was perhaps an odd choice for a president facing chronic accusations of “vertical” governing, but contrition is not part of his repertoire.

“Never let go, such is my motto,” Macron said last week on a visit to Notre-Dame, stressing that he is on track to deliver on a pledge – widely mocked at the time – to repair the fire-stricken cathedral “within five years”.

His refusal to let go, or indeed give an inch, in the face of overwhelming opposition to his pension reform has left the country mired in a deep political crisis. It has handed the French president a Pyrrhic victory that now threatens to hamper the rest of his mandate.


 

In his primetime televised address on Monday night, Macron said he had “heard people’s anger” over his deeply unpopular push to raise France’s minimum retirement age from 62 to 64, while insisting that it was needed to keep the pension system afloat. He announced “100 days of appeasement, unity, ambition and action for France”, leading up to “Bastille Day” on July 14, France’s national holiday.

Even as he spoke, crowds of protesters gathered outside town halls across France, banging pots and pans in a bid to drown out the speech – under the rallying cry: “Macron won’t listen to us? We won’t listen to him!”

‘Promises already heard’

In the run-up to Monday’s address, an Elabe poll found that only 10% of respondents believed Macron’s words could “appease” the French public. The stark figure underscored the extend of public resentment and loss of faith in the president, said Antoine Bristielle, a public opinion expert at the Fondation Jean-Jaurès, a Paris-based think-tank.

“Macron is widely seen as a smooth talker who ultimately does as he pleases,” Bristielle explained. “He could have reopened the pension debate or addressed the democratic concerns it has raised, but he chose to skip both subjects instead.”

In his 14-minute address, Macron dwelled less than two minutes on the festering debate that has roiled France for the past three months, triggering its biggest protest movement in several decades. Eager to turn the page, he announced negotiations on “key issues” like improving employees’ income, better sharing wealth and improving working conditions, including for older workers. While giving scant details about his roadmap, he promised “concrete solutions to improve daily life” for the most disadvantaged.

“Promises already seen, already heard,” read an editorial in the right-wing Le Figaro, noting that Macron’s latest reboot sounded much like his past pledges to “change method” – and that his rhetoric had been “devitalised by endless promises and U-turns”.

“The ‘hundred days’ generally refer to the dynamism and euphoria that come with the start of a mandate,” Le Monde wrote in its editorial on Tuesday, stressing that it was “manifestly not the case” with France’s increasingly unpopular president.

Several commentators drew mocking parallels with Napoleon’s Hundred Days, noting that the emperor’s last campaign led to his final defeat at Waterloo. Others stressed the scant detail Macron offered on his roadmap.

His words “rang hollow”, said Éric Fassin, a professor of sociology at Paris 8 University, describing the president’s statements as an attempt to divert attention from the bitter pension battle.

“Macron rolled out a political platform as though he were an incoming president – and not someone who has governed for the past six years,” he explained. “His announcements served one purpose: to say, ‘let’s look ahead, and not talk about what just happened’.”

‘Macron says he hears the anger – but he is deaf to what it says’

The French president has repeatedly rejected talk of a “democratic crisis” since his government used a slew of special constitutional powers to push his pension reform through parliament and ultimately ram it through without a vote.

The move was validated last week by France’s Constitutional Council, which ruled that the government had bent the rules without breaking them – a decision many legal experts said would only aggravate the imbalance between the executive and legislative branches of government.

Macron’s refusal to acknowledge an imbalance in the institutions of the Fifth Republic is indicative of his disconnect with the public, said Fassin. He pointed to a recent Viavoice survey published by left-leaning Libération, in which 76% of respondents said French democracy was in a “poor state”.

“More than three quarters of the French say democracy is in crisis, but for Macron what happened was constitutionally acceptable and therefore justified,” Fassin said. “Macron says he hears the anger – but he is deaf to what it says.”

FRENCH CONNECTIONS
FRENCH CONNECTIONS © FRANCE 24

 

Macron’s minority government is hardly the first to use the special executive powers granted by Article 49.3 of the French constitution, which has been triggered 100 times since 1962. Seldom, however, has it been used to ram through a reform of such scope and so vehemently rejected by the public. 

Its use “remains a stain on this whole process and on Macron more broadly”, said Joseph Downing, a senior lecturer in politics at Aston University in Britain, though arguing that the president’s reformist legacy will be viewed “more kindly” in years to come. 

“He did override the democratic process, he did bypass the legislature because he was worried he would lose a vote,” Downing added. “He did so legally, but he will be seen as someone who is ready to sacrifice French democracy to force through his vision of France.”

Widespread rejection of the president’s pension plans was a key factor in his failure to win a parliamentary majority following his re-election last year. His decision to bypass parliament, and ignore the millions who marched in protest, has exacerbated a crisis of representative democracy in France, added Bristielle.

“People cannot understand why a bill that is so overwhelmingly rejected by voters would be forced through anyway,” he explained. “This disconnect with the popular will is no longer acceptable. Voters are no longer content with delegating power for five years.”

Minority rule

In addition to alienating swathes of the public, Macron’s coup de force has enraged and antagonised a united front of trade unions, blown up the last remaining bridges with the left, and highlighted the government’s inability to build a dependable alliance with the rump of the conservative camp.

The bitter pension battle appears to have weakened every political camp save the far right – precisely the one Macron was elected to keep at bay.

Having lost its majority in parliament, the government needs to get support from lawmakers from diverse political forces to push ahead with its legislative agenda. Prior to the fracas over pensions, it had enjoyed a measure of success in navigating the challenges of minority rule, relying on support from opposition lawmakers – occasionally from the left, more often from the right – to pass legislation in a deeply divided National Assembly.

Pursuing such cooperation is likely to be an uphill task in the current uproarious climate of protest. Opponents from across the board said Macron’s speech on Monday had only reinforced concerns about how the reform was handled.  

“He chose to turn his back on the French and ignore their suffering,” said far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen, while the left’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon said Macron was “totally out of touch with reality”.  More troublingly for the president, conservative leader Éric Ciotti, who supported the pension reform, dismissed the speech as a “catalogue of pious wishes”, adding that Macron’s “method had clearly not changed”.  

>> Le Pen’s opposition to pension reform, focus on public order ‘pays off’ in polls

Flooding the airwaves on Tuesday, government ministers touted a flurry of proposed reforms including a “Marshall Plan for France’s middle classes”. But finding partners in the opposition will be a tall order “such is their reluctance to work with Macron”, said Bristielle, noting that unions will be even more reluctant to engage with the president after the bruising pension battle.

Having been ignored by Macron for months, France’s unions have in turn spurned his invitation for talks at the Élysée Palace. Laurent Berger, the head of the moderate CFDT union, France’s largest, noted that the president had “not uttered a word” on easing tensions in his televised address.

“The CFDT was relatively close to the positions espoused by Macron when he first ran for president in 2017, but the dialogue has been severed for now,” said Bristielle, noting that Berger’s union had been singled out for criticism by Macron during the tussle over pensions.

“That battle has rattled the union’s rank and file,” he added. “They will be deeply reluctant to accept defeat and resume talks with a president that abused them.”

Source link

#Macrons #action #plan #rings #hollow #critics #streets #banging #pots #pans

Fresh protests as France’s Constitutional Council upholds key elements of Macron’s pension reform

Post By World , , , , , ,

The French constitutional court on Friday approved the key elements of President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial pension reform while rejecting certain parts of the legislation. Pushing the legal age for drawing a full pension from 62 to 64, the legislation is deeply unpopular in France and has triggered months of mass protests. Follow our blog to see how the day’s events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2)

France’s constitutional court on Friday approved the key elements of President Emmanuel Macron‘s pension reform, paving the way for him to implement the unpopular changes that have sparked months of protests and strikes.

The nine-member Constitutional Council ruled in favour of key provisions, including raising the retirement age to 64 from 62, judging the legislation to be in accordance with the law.

Six minor proposals were rejected, including efforts to force large companies to publish data on how many people over 55 they employ, and a separate idea to create a special contract for older workers.

The decision represents a victory for Macron, but analysts say it has come at a major personal cost for the 45-year-old while causing months of disruption for the country with sometimes violent protests that have left hundreds injured.

This live blog is no longer being updated. For more of our coverage on France’s pension reform, please click here.

10:20pm: Police station entrance set on fire in Western city of Rennes

In the western city of Rennes, protesters set fire to the entrance of a police station, while other fires were also started in the city.

 

“The attacks in Rennes against a police station and the Couvent des Jacobins, by vandals determined to fight it out are unacceptable,” tweeted Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin

 


 

9:20pm: Unions call for mass new protests on May 1

As tensions mounted in the hours before the Constitutional Council’s decision, Macron invited labour unions to meet with him on Tuesday no matter what the decision was, his office said. The unions rejected Macron’s invitation, noting that he had refused their previous offers of a meeting, and called for mass new protests on May 1, International Workers Day.

The CGT union’s new leader Sophie Binet called for a “popular and historic tidal wave” of people on the streets to oppose the reforms on May 1, and the labour unions issued a press release calling for protests.


Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel said signing the law “would not be pouring oil on the fire but a jerrycan full of petrol”.

“I fear an outpouring of anger,” he told channel BFM-TV.

9:01pm: Clashes in western city of Nantes and in southeastern city of Lyon

Protests rallying hundreds have erupted in other cities besides Paris, including Marseille and Toulouse. Clashes broke out in the Western city of Nantes after protests in reaction to the decision of the Constitutional Council. According to local newspaper Ouest France, the police used water cannons to prevent demonstrators from reaching the local town hall. A fire was set in an underground car park.

According to Reuters, police also used tear gas against protesters in Lyon, France’s third biggest city, located in the southeast.

8:35pm: Police and demonstrators clash among burned trash bins

According to local newspaper Le Parisien, spontaneous demonstrations are currently taking place across France. In Paris itself, police and protesters have been clashing since the announcement of the Constitutional Council decision, especially near the Place de la Bastille.

Some burned trash bins as they marched through Paris, singing a chant popular with anti-Macron protesters: “We are here, we are here, even if Macron does not want it, we are here.”

Thousands of protesters gathered outside Paris city hall and booed the court decision. Some then marched through the city centre. Bikes, e-scooters and garbage were set on fire as police in body armour brandishing truncheons stopped protesters from advancing further, AFP correspondents said.

Tensions are still growing between authorities and demonstrators. The much-criticised motored police section has started intervening, according to Le Parisien. 

8:05pm: French unions urge Macron not to sign pensions reform into law

French trade unions urged President Emmanuel Macron on Friday not to sign his pensions reform into law in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the retirement age from rising to 64. 

“Given the massive (public) rejection of this reform, the unions request him solemnly to not promulgate this law, the only way to calm the anger which is being expressed in the country,” said a joint statement sent to the AFP news agency.

7:35pm: Massive police presence guarding Constitutional Council and Elysee Palace neighbourhood 

According to FRANCE 24’s Olivia Bizot, reporting from the Constitutional Council building, large numbers of riot police have been guarding the neighbourhood since the early hours on Friday. The presidential Elysee palace is also located nearby.


 

7:04pm: French PM Borne says ‘there is no winner, no loser’ after ruling

France‘s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Twitter: “The Constitutional Council has ruled…that the reform is in line with our constitution. The text arrives at the end of its democratic process. Tonight there is no winner, no loser.”

7:00pm: Labour Minister sets September 1 date for reform’s implementation

“The Labour Ministry and the pension system will work hard to make sure this reform is implemented on September 1,” French Labour Minister Olivier Dussopt said on Twitter.

6:50: Right-wing opposition LR leader urges ‘political forces’ to ‘accept’ the reform, Socialist leader says ‘the fight will take other forms’

Right-wing party Les Republicains leader Eric Ciotti tweeted that “The Constitutional Council has issued its ruling. All political forces must accept it and show respect for our institutions.”


Talking to reporters, opposition Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said “the Constitutional Council only ruled on the legality of the law, its approval does not mean that this is a fair law… French people have fought this reform for months, they will be disappointed and the fight will take other forms.”

6:40pm: Protesters gather outside Paris City Hall against reform as riot police guard Constitutional Council building

Protesters gathered outside Paris City Hall, holding banners reading “climate of anger” and “no end to the strikes until the reform is pulled “as the Constitutional Council’s verdict was announced.

 

Protesters gathered outside Paris’s City Hall after the Constitutional Council decision validating pension reform


 

Police are expecting up to 10,000 people to gather again in Paris on Friday night, raising fears of the vandalism and clashes that have marred recent rallies.

The Constitutional Council, a short walk from the Louvre museum in the centre of the French capital, has been protected with barriers, and dozens of riot police are on guard nearby.

6:35pm: Opposition leaders say ‘fight continues’

Far-left France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) party leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said on Twitter, “the Constitutional Council decision shows that it is more attentive to the needs of the presidential monarchy than to those of the sovereign people. The fight continues and must gather its forces.”


Far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National) party leader Marine Le Pen tweeted that “the constitutional court decision may close the institutional sequence, but the political fate of the pension reform has not been sealed. The people always have the last word, it is the people’s right to prepare for the change in power that will be the result of this unnecessary and unjust reform.”


6:21pm: France’s Constitutional Council also rejects opposition request for a referendum

Separately, the Constitutional Council rejected a proposal by the opposition to organise a citizens’ referendum on the pension reform.

The opposition has tabled another bid for a referendum, which should be reviewed by the Council in early May.

5:45pm: France’s Constitutional Council validates Macron’s unpopular pension reform

The banner reform in the legislation to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 was validated by the Constitutional Council after almost three months of protests opposing the measure.

The court struck out six measures not seen as fundamental to the essence of the reform and threw out a request filed by the left for a referendum on an alternative pension law that would keep the retirement age at 62.

>> Read more: Protests, appeals, referendum: What’s next for France’s pension reform?

(FRANCE 24 with AFP & Reuters)



Source link

#Fresh #protests #Frances #Constitutional #Council #upholds #key #elements #Macrons #pension #reform

Three possible scenarios as French court prepares to rule on constitutionality of pension reform

Post By World , , , , ,

France’s highest constitutional authority, the Constitutional Council, will rule Friday on whether President Emmanuel Macron’s contentious pension reform proposal should be accepted, modified or rejected based on the guidelines of the French constitution. FRANCE 24 explains the three possible outcomes. 

Not once in living memory has a ruling by France’s Constitutional Council aroused so much excitement. One of France’s three highest legal authorities, the Council is tasked with ensuring that legislation does not contravene the Fifth Republic’s constitution presented by Charles de Gaulle in 1958. The Council is not a politicised body like the US Supreme Court, and has tended to focus on the more technical questions of constitutional interpretation.

But there is enormous public discontent with Macron’s proposed reform, which would notably raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. The protest movement shows no sign of backing down, with a 12th day of protests set for Thursday, nearly a month after the president sparked fresh outrage by short-circuiting parliament to pass the bill using the constitution’s (in)famous Article 49.3, often thought of as the “nuclear option”.

Against this tense backdrop, the Council’s verdict is eagerly awaited.

The Council’s nine members, led by former PM Laurent Fabius, will render two key decisions that will affect the future of the legislation: the first on its constitutionality and the second on whether to authorise a public referendum on the reform.  

In ruling on whether it conforms to the constitution, the Council will either accept the bill in its entirety, alter aspects of it or reject it wholesale. 

One member of the Council cautioned against expecting it to offer a simple resolution to France’s political crisis, telling journalists: “The Council’s decision is probably going to be more complex than some are suggesting.”

While the Council is a legal body and not a political one, it does take political and social context into account. And given that France is in the midst of a fierce popular movement against the reforms with near-weekly strikes and protests, it is “unlikely that the Council will just wave every bit of the legislation through intact”, said Bruno Cautrès, a political scientist at Sciences-Po University’s centre for political research in Paris.

But it seems equally unlikely that the Constitutional Council will reject the legislation entirely. Since the Council’s creation in 1958, along with the rest of the Fifth Republic’s institutions, its members have struck down only 17 laws – and these were invalidated over minor issues.

“Totally rejecting the law would amount to telling the government that it has been acting outside the law all throughout the legislative process,” Cautrès noted.

‘Legislative riders’

France’s Constitutional Court has long taken a dim view of “legislative riders” – provisions added to bills with a tenuous link or no real link at all to the core legislation – deeming them unconstitutional.

While the pension reform legislation is technically a budgetary measure – an update to France’s yearly social security financing bill – Macron’s government chose this way of introducing the bill because budgetary measures are not subject to a constitutional rule limiting the executive to using Article 49.3 no more than once in a parliamentary session.

Thus, at least in theory, any parts of the bill that are not “budgetary” could be struck down as legislative riders.

For example, the pension reform bill includes the creation of a “senior index”, requiring companies with more than 300 on staff to report how many people over 55 they employ – a way of encouraging the employment of older workers, seen as part of making a higher retirement age work. The Constitutional Council might not view the establishment of this index as a financial measure and could dismiss it as a rider.

But since companies that do not publish these indices can be fined by the government – and those fines can be paid into the national social security budget – the argument that an indirect budgetary link exists could also be made.

A reform referendum?

The Council will also rule on the possibility of holding a public referendum that could stop the pension reform in its tracks.

A never-before-used constitutional amendment from 2008 allows for a “Citizens’ Initiative Referendum” (référendum d’initiative partagée) to be held if a motion wins the support of one-fifth of MPs and the backing of one-tenth of voters. The left-wing NUPES alliance is trying to hold a national vote on passing a law capping the retirement age at 62.

That would be a tall order – even if the Council rules that a referendum can go ahead.

“It’s quite possible that the Council will allow for a referendum, but that wouldn’t necessarily stop Macron from putting his law in place,” Cautrès said.

“As for collecting nearly 5 million signatures in the nine months before the law is implemented – well, that’s not at all certain,” he added.

The Council will also have to consider a handful of appeals against the bill – including from NUPES and from Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party (Rassemblement National).

But one thing is certain, Cautrès said. “The Constitutional Council has an exclusively legal role and is not going to play politics.”

Constitutional Council president Fabius must eventually task one of the Council’s other members to write up an analysis of the bill. Whoever is chosen can draw upon the expertise of the Council’s legal department and may meet with the politicians behind the appeals that have been lodged. Once the report is complete, its author presents it to the rest of the Council. 

Council members then take to the floor to share their positions on the report’s conclusions. A simple majority vote of the nine members decides the matter; the Council’s president votes last, casting the deciding vote if need be.   

“If some parts of the bill are struck down but raising the retirement age to 64 remains, that will in no way be a response to the uproar over pension reform,” said Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT, France’s largest and most moderate trade union.

Left-wing politicians have already said they will carry on demanding an end to Macron’s pension reform, even if the Constitutional Council accepts it.

The Council is thus under pressure even while it debates its decision.

“People are expecting too much from the Constitutional Council,” Thibaud Mulier, a lecturer in public law at Paris Nanterre University, told FranceInfo this week.

And none of the options are likely to resolve the debate. “Either the government will be weakened, if the whole legislative text is rejected, or there will be a continuation of the social crisis if the plan to raise the retirement age is accepted,” Mulier said.

Regardless of what the Constitutional Council decides, France is likely to see more upheaval over the reforms in the weeks to come. 

This article was translated from the original in French.

Source link

#scenarios #French #court #prepares #rule #constitutionality #pension #reform