February 2020

03Feb

France. Pension reform: debates kick off with 22,000 amendments

71 French members of Parliament will today start examining a controverisial pension reform bill in an ad-hoc commission. The opposition has submitted some 22,000 amendments. Read also French strikes pass two-month mark with protest planned for Paris The 71 members of the Assemblée Nationale on this special commission have just two weeks to examine the 70 articles of the two pension reform bills which have fueled strikes and protests across France since 5 December 2019. The bills will then be subject to debate in Parliament...

February 3, 2020
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January 2020

28Jan

Legal blow to French pension reform plans

Country's highest administrative court warns government that it has not had time to study legislation properly and it 'guarantee the legal security' of controversial changes to the pension system President Emmanuel Macron's controversial pension reform plans that have prompted weeks of strikes and protests have been dealt a blow by the country's highest administrative court. The Conseil d'Etat said that the financial forecasts underpinning the bills were questionable and warned that it could not "guarantee the best possible legal...

January 28, 2020
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27Jan

French Unions Warn Macron Pension Strikes Will Drag On for Months

France's hardleft trade unions on Friday threatened industrial action for months to come, as they searched for a way to force President Emmanuel Macron to ditch the biggest overhaul of the country's pension system since World War Two. The unions have been locked in battle with Macron over the fate of France's generous pension benefits since early December. The former investment banker has made some concessions to the unions but refuses to abandon his reform. The unions on Friday...

January 27, 2020
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23Jan

French unions try to keep pension protest alive as deadline looms

Hardline French unions on Wednesday kept up a series of wildcat strikes aimed at ratcheting up pressure on the government before it presents the final version of a pension reform that has prompted France's biggest labour protest in decades. The government will unveil the revised pensions overhaul at a cabinet meeting Friday before submitting the draft law to parliament for debate set to begin on February 17. "It's going to be Friday or never," Philippe Martinez of the hardline...

January 23, 2020
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17Jan

French unions vow to stand firm as pension strike softens

Striking workers poured into streets across France Thursday for a sixth day of demonstrations against a pensions overhaul, putting up a show of defiance after Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the historic transport stoppage "has gone on for too long". The rallies came on the 43rd day of a strike that again snarled train and metro traffic and caused misery for millions of commuters in Paris especially. "It's never too late to make a government back down," Philippe Martinez...

January 17, 2020
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15Jan

Strike against pension reform not to have severe impact on French economy: minister

Rolling train and metro stoppages and nationwide street rallies would not pose serious challenge to France's economy which has preserved its attractiveness despite a social tense climate, French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday. Asked by CNews television whether growth of the eurozone's second key powerhouse would be affected by unions' industrial action to oppose a pension overhaul, Le Maire said: "I don't think the strike will cost France dear." "I don't think that it...

January 15, 2020
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13Jan

France. French transport strike drags on despite government compromise on pensions

A crippling French transport strike dragged into its 39th day on Sunday despite the government’s offer to withdraw the most contested measure of the pension reform plans that sparked the protest. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Saturday he would drop plans to increase the official retirement age to 64 from 62 in an effort to end a strike which has paralyzed Paris and its suburbs, with bus, train and metro services all badly disrupted. “I am willing to withdraw...

January 13, 2020
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13Jan

Macron Scraps Proposal to Raise Retirement Age in France

Faced with an unrelenting protest over proposed changes in France’s generous pension system, officials withdraw a move to raise the full-benefit retirement age to 64 from the present 62. Read Also France. French transport strike drags on despite government compromise on pensions With tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators once again coursing through the streets of Paris and other cities and clouds of tear gas and smashed store windows punctuating the urban landscape, the French government made a major concession on...

January 13, 2020
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10Jan

Demographic Obstacles to European Growth

By: Thomas F. Cooley, Espen Henriksen, Charlie Nusbaum Since the early 1990’s the growth rates of the four largest European economies—France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom—have slowed. This persistent slowdown suggests a low-frequency structural change is at work. A combination of longer individual life expectancies and declining fertility have led to gradually ageing populations. Demographic change affects economic growth directly through households savings and labor supply decisions and also growth indirectly through the pension systems and the need to...

January 10, 2020
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09Jan

Nationwide protest in France over pensions as talks continue

Rail workers, teachers, doctors, lawyers and others joined a nationwide day of protests and strikes Thursday to denounce French President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to overhaul the pension system. As the government and unions pushed on with crucial negotiations about the changes, street protests were staged in Paris and other French cities, with railway strikes entering their sixth week. Read Also Critical week in frances pension reform protests The Eiffel Tower was shut as employees joined the protest movement. Paris metro traffic was...

January 9, 2020
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