Sarkozy defiant over plan to push through reform

FRANCE’S President Nicolas Sarkozy remained defiant yesterday after massive street protests against his plan to raise the retirement age from 60, vowing to push on with an “essential” reform.

Opponents reacted angrily, with the oppositionSocialists branding him a liar and unions warning of further action after Tuesday’s strike disrupted transport, shut schools and brought more than a million into the streets.

“The main element of this reform is a new retirement age. This age will be gradually raised . . . to reach 62 in 2018,” Sarkozy said in a statement. “There is no question of backtracking on this point.”

Unions said the reforms are a threat to hard-won social benefits and want them drastically scaled back.

Mobilised by Tuesday’s protests, six leading unions met yesterday and announced new nationwide strikes and demonstrations for September 23.

Sarkozy reiterated that he would include in the reform special exceptions for those who start work younger than 18 and for certain physically demanding jobs, in his first reaction to Tuesday’s mass protests. But Socialist spokesman Benoit Hamon said Sarkozy offered only “scant improvements”.

“The reform is one of lies,” Hamon told reporters, saying Sarkozy’s proposed improvements to the bill were old pledges that he had lined up in anticipation of protests. “Since the start of this business of pensions, the government has lied and the arguments it uses are lies.”

Sarkozy says the pensions system must be reformed as part of efforts to bring down France’s high budget deficit. Unions and political opponents say his plan puts an unfair burden on workers.

Tuesday’s protests drew 1.12 million people, according to the Interior Ministry: more than double that, according to unions, who have vowed further action.

“I am attentive to the concerns that have been expressed,” Sarkozy said, while insisting he would push on with the bill currently before parliament – the centrepiece of his reform agenda as he eyes re-election.

“It is an essential reform,” Sarkozy said. “There is no question of letting anyone distort the reform, because that would put in peril the rebalancing of our pensions system.”

Workers starting younger than 18 and making pensions contributions for the required number of years would still retire at 60 “or even sooner”, he said.