French pension reform: ‘Forcing the losers of globalization to work longer will stoke the social anger that feeds the far right’

5 comments

1. **The political cost of the reform wanted by Emmanuel Macron may open the doors of power to Marine Le Pen, writes political scientist Bruno Palier in ‘Le Monde’.**

   What will be the political cost of the pension reform presented by the government? The fiscal stakes are clear: to make rapid savings in the pension system, at the cost of additional months and years of work imposed on the French. As for the political stakes of the reform, they appear to consist of demonstrating a desire for reform, ambushing the Republican right, and getting through the winter of demonstrations without too much trouble. The history and comparison of pension reforms teach us, however, that the political consequences of unpopular reforms are measured in the medium term, in the elections that follow the measures announced.

   François Hollande promised to reverse the 2010 reform, but the one adopted in 2013 (known as the “Touraine reform”) maintained the age of 62 (albeit with the possibility of an earlier retirement), decided to increase to 43 years the duration of contributions required for a full pension (by 2035) and froze the revaluation of pension levels for several years. That reversal of electoral promises contributed to the collapse of the institutional left to the benefit of the parties of disruption: La France insoumise, the Rassemblement national (RN) and En marche! which won the 2017 elections and narrowly won the 2022 presidential election (but not the legislative elections).

   Who, then, will be the political winner of the forced adoption of an unpopular reform in the 2027 elections? The main opposition to the current majority is not the left, but the RN. Marine Le Pen has been making sure to oppose the reform. That makes sense since her voters will be among the most affected. Indeed, electoral studies show that the RN is the primary party of the working class. Yet they are one of the social categories that start working the earliest and are therefore likely to have accumulated enough contributions around the age of 62. This means that they will be working “for free” (without earning new pension rights).

   **Read the full article:** [**https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2023/01/17/pension-reform-forcing-the-losers-of-globalization-to-work-longer-will-stoke-the-social-anger-that-feeds-the-rn_6011862_23.html**](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2023/01/17/pension-reform-forcing-the-losers-of-globalization-to-work-longer-will-stoke-the-social-anger-that-feeds-the-rn_6011862_23.html)

2. Back in the day the term for “losers of globalization” was “fellow citizens”.

   Dunno guys, try to import more people from the third world and give them citizenship to vote your pathetic parties, this plan worked till now.

3. The only question is who else pays for people getting older?

4. I’m sorry, do French consider themselves losers of globalization?
   Is that supposed to be a joke?

5. Absolutely right. NAFTA here resulted in a horrible political situation for the center and center left that took until Trump to be acknowledged by the mainstream. In Europe I have no doubt that the austerity of the 2010s fed movements such as 5S.