France Braces for New Pension Strikes, Mass Protests

Protesters hold a banner reading "all on strike" during a rally called by French trade unions in Toulouse, southwestern France, on January 19, 2023. (Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
Protesters hold a banner reading "all on strike" during a rally called by French trade unions in Toulouse, southwestern France, on January 19, 2023. (Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
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France Braces for New Pension Strikes, Mass Protests

Protesters hold a banner reading "all on strike" during a rally called by French trade unions in Toulouse, southwestern France, on January 19, 2023. (Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
Protesters hold a banner reading "all on strike" during a rally called by French trade unions in Toulouse, southwestern France, on January 19, 2023. (Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP)

France braced for new strikes and mass demonstrations against a deeply unpopular pensions overhaul on Tuesday, a day after lawmakers started debating the contested bill.

President Emmanuel Macron made the reform the heart of his re-election campaign last year, and is determined to implement it despite fierce opposition from the political left and unions, but also the wider public.

Tuesday's protests are the third such nationwide rallies organized since the start of the year, AFP said.

Last week's demonstrations brought out 1.3 million people across the country, according to the police, while unions claimed more than 2.5 million people took part.

Either way, they were the largest such protests in France since 2010.

Trains and the Paris metro are again expected to see "severe disruptions" on Tuesday, operators said, with around one in five flights at Orly airport south of the capital expected to be cancelled.

"We're counting on there being rallies so that the country's elected representatives take into account the opinion of citizens," Philippe Martinez, leader of the hard-left CGT union, told the France 2 broadcaster on Monday.

More marches are planned for Saturday, although unions for rail operator SNCF said they would not call for a strike at the weekend, a holiday getaway date in some regions.

Macron's proposal includes hiking the retirement age from 62 to 64 years old -- still lower than in many European countries -- and increasing the number of years people must make contributions for a full pension.

His ruling party is hoping to pass the bill with the help of allies on the political right, without having to resort to controversial executive powers that dispense with the need for a ballot.

But members of the left-wing opposition are staunchly opposed, and have filed for thousands of amendments.

- 'Reform or bankruptcy' -
Members of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne's government struggled to defend the overhaul as necessary in parliament on Monday, with many in the lower house booing.

As pressure grew, Borne on Sunday offered a key concession, saying people who started work aged 20 or 21 would be allowed to leave work a year earlier.

But the head of the CFDT union, Laurent Berger, dismissed the offer as a mere "band aid" -- not a response to widespread public criticism.

Macron aims to lift the pensions system out of deficit by 2030 by finding around 18 billion euros ($19.5 billion) of annual savings -- mostly from pushing people to work for longer and abolishing some special retirement schemes.

"It's reform or bankruptcy," Public Accounts Minister Gabriel Attal said in parliament on Monday.

But critics say that women will on average have to wait longer for retirement than men, as many have interruptions in their careers from childbearing and care responsibilities.

Opponents also say the reform fails to adequately account for people in physically strenuous jobs like builders and does not deal with companies' reluctance to hire and retain older workers.

Borne claimed the government would pile pressure on companies to end the practice of letting go older employees, which leaves many struggling to find work in their final years before pension age.



Zelenskiy Praises Killing of Top Russian Military Figures 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the media with South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa (not pictured) during a state visit, at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, April 24, 2025. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the media with South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa (not pictured) during a state visit, at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, April 24, 2025. (Reuters)
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Zelenskiy Praises Killing of Top Russian Military Figures 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the media with South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa (not pictured) during a state visit, at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, April 24, 2025. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the media with South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa (not pictured) during a state visit, at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, April 24, 2025. (Reuters)

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised Ukraine's foreign intelligence service on Monday for the killing of top Russian military figures since the start of the war, but made no mention of a car bomb that killed a senior Russian officer last week.

The Kremlin has blamed Ukraine for last Friday's car bomb outside Moscow that killed Yaroslav Moskalik, 59, deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

Authorities in Kyiv have made no direct comment on the attack on Moskalik, the latest in a series of Russian military officers and pro-war figures killed since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskiy's remarks, on the Telegram messaging app, made no reference to any specific instance of Russian military officers being killed.

"The head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence reported on the liquidation of persons from the top command of the Russian armed forces. Justice inevitably is done," Zelenskiy said, referring to the agency's head, Oleg Ivashchenko.

"The head reported on further measures to counter Russian agent networks in Ukraine and saboteurs. Good results. Thank you for your work," the president said.

Ukraine's SBU intelligence service said it killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, a top Russian general accused by Ukraine of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops, last December in Moscow.

A Moscow court at the weekend ordered a Ukrainian national facing terrorism charges in connection with the attack on Moskalik to be remanded in custody.

A Moskalik obituary published on Tuesday in the Russian defense ministry's official newspaper, Krasnaya Zvezda and signed by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, his deputies and top army commanders, described Moskalik as a "loyal son" of Russia.

It said that since the start of the war, which the obituary in line with the Kremlin's stance called "a special military operation", Moskalik supervised the works of the General Staff's combat control group. It did not provide details on what that position involved.

According to the obituary, from 2015 to 2021 Moskalik was involved in Russian defense ministry's international delegations working on issues relating to southeastern Ukraine. He was "responsible for preparing materials for the Russian president on the situation in southeastern Ukraine", the obituary said.