Successful strike against pension reform on the example of France

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In France, they are not only on strike, but also ridiculed by those who have resigned themselves to raising the retirement age.

A strike against the pension reform project continued in France over the weekend. According to the railway workers' union, during the strike one of four long-distance trains and three of ten commuter trains departed. 14 metro lines were closed completely, only two worked. 60% of the buses were laid up.

Last Tuesday, December 17, another wave of demonstrations swept through the cities of France. In Paris, according to various estimates, from 100 thousand to 300 thousand people took to the streets. From 20 to 40 thousand protested against the pension reform, the conditions of which, by the way, are much milder than in Russia, in Marseille. About the same in Lyon, Toulouse, Nantes, Bordeaux. The demonstrations took place against the backdrop of the ongoing traffic collapse caused by the strikes.

The government has already asked the head of the national railways, Jean-Pierre Farand, to prepare an anti-crisis "transport plan" indicating the saved trains for Christmas and New Years.

But union leaders persist. “If the government wants the conflict to end before the holidays, it has the entire next week to make the common sense decision that is needed: to reverse the reform on controversial points,” Laurent Brun, general secretary of CGT-Cheminots (French railway workers' union) told AFP …

It’s scary to imagine what it would be like in Moscow, for example, if 90% of the metro lines stood up and the suburban railway service was paralyzed for more than 12 days. Muscovites, who would not have been affected by the pension reform, probably demanded the most decisive measures from the authorities in order for them to restore order. However, the Parisians, despite the difficulties, are generally on the side of the strikers, including because the reformers - President Macron and Premier Phillip - no longer find the right words in favor of their decisions.

The media, both serious and tabloid, took the side of the trade unions, and the latter hit more painfully than the first. In particular, the publication Insolentiae (“Impudence” - translated from French) published an article under the caustic title - “Pensions by capitalization - a trap for idiots. We are assholes. " It essentially ridicules such a tool of Macron's pension reform as a "funded plan" - an exact copy of Russia's "guaranteed pension plan." Or vice versa, which is more likely.

"As you can imagine, capitalization with a 'guarantee' is a fake," says the editor-in-chief of the publication Charles Sannat - Debts of the state (bonds), which are considered safe, but which will probably never be fulfilled … especially after 30 years. Especially with the monetary reform, which is hanging on our nose (the French are confident that the EU will disintegrate and the euro will die). The rates are negative due to insolvency, and stocks are at their maximum precisely because of the negative rates. Pension capitalization is a trap for assholes."

Serious analytical publications, in which authoritative experts appear, are not lagging behind either. Thus, Charles Prats, a judge and expert at the Vauban Institute for Economic and Tax Research, explained why the French are against pension reform, despite the fact that it is objectively necessary.

To the direct question, "Is it possible to avoid the reform of the pension system, given the problems with demography?", He answered unequivocally - it is impossible. Nevertheless, he opposed the announced reforms, since they must be carried out intelligently and responsibly, otherwise a rollback with more dangerous consequences will occur.

“Our pension system is a distribution system, that is, schematically it looks like this: workers pay pensioners. But the number of the former is declining, while the latter, on the contrary, is growing. All of this creates "burdens on public finances," said Charles Prats. In fact, he spoke in the same way as Prime Minister Medvedev and President Putin, who similarly explained the "need" for tough decisions.

However, according to Prats, it is possible to carry out unpopular measures against the elderly only when the authorities prove to the people that "there is no money." If people have doubts, they should be documented. Prats' speech baffled French President Macron.

“The Court of Auditors again recalled the mind-boggling level of VAT tax fraud, although it has been known for almost a decade how to stop this fraud using early detection systems that the French administration has refused to implement since 2011,” the judge chided the president. They say, solve this problem, and "the trade unions will have one less reason for protests."

In other words, the pension reform must be extremely fair, otherwise sooner or later the country will get a "socio-economic explosion". Thus, the government should not have arguments in favor of raising the retirement age, and opponents should not have arguments against it. That is, there should be no trifles in this matter that people will regard as disrespectful to themselves.

How not to recall here the conclusions of our Accounts Chamber about the record non-fulfillment of federal budget measures by 1 trillion rubles in 2019, as well as about budget violations totaling 772.7 billion rubles. in 2018, identified in the largest and most resonant audits. This money would be more than enough not to start raising the retirement age at all in the medium term and to prepare more thoroughly for the reform.

In this regard, one should also recall the address of President Putin on pension reform on August 29, 2018. Then the head of state said: “According to the Ministry of Finance, the application of an increased tax rate, for example, 20% to high incomes, can give, and even then not for sure, about 75-120 billion rubles a year. These funds, at best, will last for six days. Because the daily need for pension payments in Russia is 20 billion rubles."

Let's admit. But the introduction of a progressive personal income tax rate, when the rich will pay increased taxes on wages and income from dividends, will remove one of the arguments against pension reform. This is - albeit a small, but very necessary step towards social justice. But the government decided not to touch the "rich", shifting all the hardships of raising the pension reform onto the poor.

The second question is why the conversation turned to an increase of only 7%, because in countries that have raised the retirement age, the income tax of the rich reaches 50% or more?

Thus, until the issues of tax and corruption crimes are resolved, and the officials do not learn how to effectively execute the budget in terms of expenditures, any reform that has negative financial consequences for ordinary people will be outrageously unfair and hopeless.

The authorities must understand that the next president of the Russian Federation, who will be after Putin (no matter if it happens in 2024 or later), may not have the strength, experience and authority to break the people over the knee. On the contrary, a new opposition will emerge - strong and popular. And then the current initiators of the pension reform will be asked for the full program.

"In France, they canceled the pension reform that caused the strikes," Le Monde commented on the concessions from the government

But the working people do not at all think that concessions, even significant ones, are a victory. Victory is a complete abolition of the reform that worsens the social situation of citizens. As it was in 1995, when the authorities canceled the increase in the retirement age after a multi-week strike. But they did not abandon their intentions. Over the past 10 years, it has risen in France from 60 to 62 years. At the same time, it remains one of the lowest in Europe - but only because France is struggling. Temporary inconveniences can be tolerated when it comes to the fate of future generations.