After two major demonstrations which each time brought together more than a million French people, the British press evokes a reform which affects “a central part of the national identity”.
On Tuesday, between 1.2 and 2.8 million French people braved the pavement to express their opposition to the pension reform wanted by the government of Emmanuel Macron, an increase in participation compared to the first day of the strike on January 19. .
While two new days of mobilization have already been announced – February 7 and 11 – the European press is carefully observing this social uproar hitting France. And who could even be emulated, if we are to believe the British press.
British mimicry?
the UK, a country which had hitherto been unaccustomed to social movements, has been shaken for several months by major strikes. On Wednesday, thousands of teachers took to the streets of London, joining angry nurses and railway workers. The English, who until then liked to gently mock their French neighbors for their propensity to demonstrate, are now calling to imitate them.
“It’s time to challenge the British government as the French would do”, headlined the Scottish daily. The National.
“These French people, who take to the streets for their pensions, are not doing it just for this problem, but for what they believe to be a greater threat to social justice. This is part of a wider battle against a system economy perceived as unfair”, writes in the columns of the daily newspaper the editorialist David Pratt.
He calls on the Scots to mobilize in numbers against the government of Rishi Sunak in London.
The magazine The Economist even dedicated an episode of his podcast “The Intelligence” to the French protests. “The retirement age affects a central part of the French national identity”, explains Sophie Pedder, the correspondent of the press title in Paris.
A “lunar” reform in Italy
In Italywhere attention is currently focused on a scandal relating to the conditions of detention of detainees, comments are less numerous than across the Channel. La Repubblica was nevertheless surprised at the extent of the mobilization, while the retirement age is set at 67 in our Italian neighbours. The daily even qualifies as “lunar” the proposals of certain candidates during the last French presidential election, who proposed to reduce the starting age to 60 years.
In the columns of the newspaper Belgian The evening, we speak of a reform “barely presented, already shouted down”, when in Spain, El País warns Emmanuel Macron of a “lasting divorce with a majority of French people if he maintains the plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64”.
The Spanish newspaper even draws a parallel with another French social movement: “The demonstrations were important in medium and small towns, one of the centers of the demonstrations, as they were during the revolt of the yellow vests in 2018 “.
“Disoriented” French people
Finally, in Germany, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung notes in recent days the “nervousness” of the government, with Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne having indicated that the starting age of 64 was “non-negotiable”. “Even in a France favorable to the strike, it is unusual for public administrations to join a block walkout”, also notes the daily, in connection with the closure of several town halls on Tuesday.
However, it is from Switzerland that comes the most detailed analysis of the movement that is currently shaking France. In a “comment” published on the newspaper’s website BlickFrance-based journalist Richard Werly believes the protests are “much more than a pension revolt”.
The article evokes “confused” French people, in a country “in the process of being over-indebted”. Before warning Emmanuel Macron’s government: “Letting it prosper (the mobilization movement, editor’s note), by betting on its exhaustion, is the best way to let yourself be overwhelmed tomorrow at the ballot box by a revolution”.
