French unions strike, demand end to austerity and Macron’s spending cuts

The newly appointed Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is under increasing pressure from trade unions in France to halt any additional public spending cuts and resume a day of widespread nationwide strikes.

Around 195, 000 people showed up in France, according to the ministry of the interior, including 24, 000 in Paris, which is lower than the figure from a strike two weeks earlier, which attracted much larger crowds, which indicates a lower overall turnout.

According to the police, 500,000 people showed up at the most recent demonstrations, according to trade unions, who estimate one million. The protests caused police to clash with the demonstrators in all of France’s cities, with the latter reportedly making about 140 arrests across the country.

Outgoing Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau announced on Thursday that France had sent 76 000 police officers and gendarmes to the country to support the protests, including 5 000 in Paris, where between 20 000 and 40 000 people are expected to take to the streets.

More than 200 towns and cities across France reported protests on Thursday. Due to the strikes, the Eiffel Tower, arguably one of the country’s most well-known landmarks, announced its closure.

This month, two significant strikes organized by trade unions were sparked by widespread opposition to the government’s leadership’s efforts to pass an austerity budget through parliament.

Francois Bayrou, the most recent prime minister under President Emmanuel Macron, was a political casualty in the wake of an unpopular budget that would have required 44 billion euros ($52 billion) in cuts to local government spending and health, as well as a freeze on government spending, to control Paris’s growing deficit and debt issues. France’s debt has previously been referred to as “life-threatening.”

France has struggled to control its skyrocketing debt and deficit for years, as government after government faced fierce public opposition to spending cuts.

A wider political parachute is at play in the current impasse. The opposition to Macron’s government, which lacks a parliamentary majority, disagrees on whether to share the burden of increasing spending.

Lecornu has promised to alter the course of his predecessor, but he claimed that delivering on the promise would have an impact on the nation’s financial standing and ultimately its households. “The IMF is not at Bercy’s gates.” However, he claimed that it is false to pretend to be able to let things slide without having an impact on our fellow citizens.

Former defense minister Lecornu, who is yet to name a cabinet, has been pushing for a wealth tax as well as a change to pensions and a reduction of France’s retirement age from 62 to 64.

The unions have argued that “fiscal justice” would shift the burden of maintaining public services fairly across society.

In the upcoming days, Lecornu is anticipated to release his budget.

One of France’s largest trade unions, the General Confederation of Labour, Sophie Binet, said in a statement that “waffle-talk or half-baked measures won’t solve this problem.” We must meet social demands and utterly deny the sacrifices made in the Bayrou copy for the working class.

Binnet continued, noting that “social anger is enormous” and was never going to stop.