France faces the most massive May 1 in years in protest of the pension reform

The french unions They wanted to take advantage of the date of the may 1 to organize its thirteenth day of mobilizations against pension reform of the president, Emmanuel Macronwith demonstrations and transport strikes that will mean the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

The trade union centrals have summoned 300 demonstrations throughout the country which are expected to be very crowded. The security forces estimate that they will take to the streets between 500,000 and 650,000 demonstratorsof which between 80,000 and 100,000 will do it in Paristhat is to say four times more than last year.

The protests were brought forward two days, coinciding with the final of the French Soccer Cup, held on Saturday in Saint-Denis. Thousands of fans took Macron’s ‘red card’.

Before the start of the match, the trade unionists handed out red cards to the fans with the inscription “red card to retire at 64” and whistles to use in the minute 49to refer to the article of the Constitution that the Government has used to approve the pension reform (without a vote of the National Assembly, where it did not have the necessary majority). The intimidating effect of the public caused the president to the protocol will skip and will not go down to the grass to deliver the cup to the winners, thus avoiding being booed.

The leader of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT, the first power plant in the country), laurent bergerHe said this Sunday wait “hundreds of thousands of protesters, maybe a million”. The security forces fear that some of the concentrations will be infiltrated radical groups with the intention of generating riots. That is why the Ministry of the Interior has decided to mobilize 12,000 agents, 5,000 of them in Paris.

The main message of the exchanges is that, beyond requiring Macron not to apply the law which delays the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 years, is to prove that his opposition does not deflate and that they intend to continue the movement. A follow-up that all the unions will decide once again together on Tuesday, on the basis of the mobilization on Monday.

For her part, Prime Minister Elisabeth Bornehas already advanced that it intends to convene the unions to discuss labor issues, including aspects of the application of the pension reform –which will enter into force in September– but without questioning it.

a way to Terminal to try to turn the page to get out of the social blockbut also of the politicianwhich prevents his cabinet from carrying out projects that he had in hand as a new immigration law. A complicated attempt considering that 60% of the people questioned for a survey published by le figaro they consider that the protests against the pension reform should continue after May 1.

The situation could get even more complicated on Wednesday. He Constitutional Council It will decide whether to accept a proposal from the left-wing opposition, which requests the possibility of holding a referendum under a mechanism similar to the Spanish Popular Legislative Initiative. If granted, with a fifth of the members of Parliament and the signatures of 10% of the electorate, a bill could be submitted to a referendum, overriding Macron’s initiative. This would open a front of several months of duration to obtain the necessary signatures.

For her part, the National Association (RN) of the far-right Marine Le Pen celebrates the day of May 1 with a demonstration in the industrial port of Le Havre, which wants to be a symbol of its anchorage in the workers’ milieu. Le Pen, which the polls in recent weeks give as the big winner in electoral terms of the pension crisis (one of the polls attributed him the victory in eventual presidential elections with 55% of the votes in the second round), he hopes to continue taking advantage of this situation to criticize the Government.

Union mobilization goes hand in hand with a series of transport stoppageswhich will make itself felt in particular with the air traffic controllers strike which obliges companies operating at the nine largest French airports, including the two in Paris, to cancel between a quarter and a third of the flights.

The General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) has asked them to suppress 33% of the operations at the Parisian airport of Orlyas well as in those of Marseilles, lyons, Bordeaux, nantes and Toulouse. In addition, they have to cancel 25% of the flights in charles de gaullealso in Paris, which is the busiest airport in France, as well as in those of Nice and Beauvais (just outside of Paris).