Pension Reform

Pension reform - The French government has appointed Laurent Pietraszewski, an MP with Emmanuel Macron’s party in the National Assembly, to replace former high commissioner on pensions Jean-Paul Delevoye, who resigned on Monday over undisclosed activities outside of government

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is set to meet with unions this afternoon for a fresh round of negotiations on the reforms. Amid Tuesday’s protests, he told parliament that the government had no intention of backing down on its planned reforms, which would create a single points-based pension system and end the current patchwork of schemes that offers early retirement to some in the public sector.

Unions likewise show no intention of backing down. In a press release following Tuesday’s protests, the unions leading the strikes (including CGT, FO and Solidaires) said that they would not observe a “Christmas truce” and that strikes would continue through the holidays unless the government withdrew its pension reforms.