(Paris) President Emmanuel Macron estimated on Wednesday that his highly contested pension reform was “ necessary ” and should “ come into force by the end of the year ”, during a television interview on TF1 and France 2.
“This reform is necessary. It doesn’t make me happy, I would have liked not to do it, but that’s also why I made the commitment to do it,” said the Head of State, hoping for his entry into force “by the end of the year” so that “1.8 million pensioners begin to be increased by around 600 euros per year on average”.
The President of the Republic, who is facing ever more sustained political and trade union protest since the adoption of the reform by 49.3, also considered that “ the project of all opposition and all those who oppose ” to the reform, “ it’s the deficit”, which he compared to a “ magic formula ”.
“What is the deficit? “Questioned Emmanuel Macron. “It means, in fact, that you choose to charge your children because, today, you refuse to decide with clarity and courage,” he continued.
While new rallies were organized on Tuesday evening against the reform in several large French cities, the scene for some of them, including Paris, of tensions between the police and demonstrators, “ we cannot accept either the rebels or the factions”, argued the Head of State.
“When the United States of America went through what they went through on Capitol Hill, when Brazil went through what it went through […], I tell you very clearly,” he said, by denouncing “groups that use violence” among demonstrators. “ We will not tolerate any overflow ”, he warned again.
