France wants change but refuses to change

[Blaze]

Here is an excellent article on the BBC website giving a summary of the current situation in France regarding the pension reforms :
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64986741

"What this crisis goes to show," veteran political commentator Alain Duhamel said recently, "is that there are two Frances out there. They live in completely separate mental worlds, and find it impossible even to communicate."

[niemeyjt]

I am not sure "France wants to change".

Maybe "The French know they need to change, but do not want to change themselves."

[Niftyons]

Here is an excellent article on the BBC website giving a summary of the current situation in France regarding the pension reforms :
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64986741

"What this crisis goes to show," veteran political commentator Alain Duhamel said recently, "is that there are two Frances out there. They live in completely separate mental worlds, and find it impossible even to communicate."

Exactly the same can be said of any country that I can think of.

Cue Burns.

Edit. This fable is brought to you by courtesy ofthe BBC. Well fancy that!

[Polarengineer]

Another alternative that may please some would be to allow people, after their 60th birthday to choose when they want to retire. The gov. Would then calculate how much pension they would get and leave it up to them to carry on working or take it.
Edit..... I must add to that to close a loophole that NO low income support would be available until the age of 66.

[Niftyons]

In this world two things count

In the bank, large amounts (that the bankers can hit the porcelain with)

I have forgotten what the other one was

[Niftyons]

Unshakeable believes perhaps ?

[niemeyjt]

I think there was only the one thing . . .

In this life, one thing counts
In the bank, large amounts
I'm afraid these don't grow on trees,
You've got to pick-a-pocket or two

Unless the second is pick-pocketing skills

[Blaze]

Another alternative that may please some would be to allow people, after their 60th birthday to choose when they want to retire. The gov. Would then calculate how much pension they would get and leave it up to them to carry on working or take it.
Edit..... I must add to that to close a loophole that NO low income support would be available until the age of 66.

Agreed, and at the same time, tax pensions over a certain amount.
Whatever measure the government would like to take, there would be an outcry.
Imagine if a President wanted to overhaul the constitution ! De Gaulle managed it, but it could be political suicide for anyone else to try to amend something DG did !

I put the link to the BBC article because it seemed a little more down to earth than anything I've read in French publications as well as those in English.

President Macron encouraged the death of the ancien régime, that old order which he exploited to pose as the lone moderate, picking sensible bits from programmes of left and right. Hyper-intelligent and hyper-keen he may have been, but France never liked him and he was elected, twice, by default. Because the alternative, Marine Le Pen, was unacceptable to most.

Not only does the French pension system need to be reformed, but it would seem that the voting system needs a complete overhaul.
To end up having to vote for someone you don't want because you want to stop a worse choice getting in is ludicrous.

But who do these people vote for in the first round ??? They had a wonderful choice apart from Macron and Le Pen : Melenchon, Zemmour, Pecresse, Lassalle etc !! For EM, MLP and Melonhead to get so many votes in the first round, it doesn't leave much to the imagination.

[MAD87]

We've been here many times before, haven't we? Trying to get the French to face reality. Chirac, Sarkozy, now Macron.
Some people will still be able to retire at 50. It irks me that e.g., train drivers can retire in their early 50s, but airline pilots must wait until they're 65 (last I heard). Why?

[niemeyjt]

It's because it is hard work to shovel coal into a boiler and someone doing it cannot expect to live very long.