Agreed that France desperately needs to lower its enormous debt, but austerity measures are somehow political suicide. I wrote something similar over here:
People said that in 2008 Britain, but the coalition government did make the deficit a live political issue and it did get them into power. Maybe it was a different time or culture, but it's possible.
Both leading opposition parties are opposed to reducing the deficit. This might change in the future if and when populists are in office I think. Former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton - of all people - has suggested having an RN (nationalist) prime minister as it is the largest party in Parliament!
I can’t help feeling that the media is partly to blame for the pensions issue. They can’t help but side with the “poor” pensioner. But the journalists would probably retort that stories about how the numbers don’t add up with today’s pension settings don’t get as many clicks!
>Macron’s tepid 2023 pension reform led to massive social unrest in which young people played a major role. Over 80% of French young people (aged below 35) opposed the reform. French young people seem to think public pensions’ sustainability is merely a matter of political will and one’s preferred conception of social justice.
I am not usually one to defend protestors, but there is some sense in which these reforms are always throwing the young(er) under the bus. It's not enough to just raise the age of retirement, you also have to reduce the benefits in some way (or at the very least cap their growth).
Agreed that France desperately needs to lower its enormous debt, but austerity measures are somehow political suicide. I wrote something similar over here:
https://kainesianmacro.substack.com/p/why-france-is-looking-a-bit-italian
Unfortunately, virtually every Western nation faces the same problem, and they all refuse to do anything substantial to fix the problem.
People said that in 2008 Britain, but the coalition government did make the deficit a live political issue and it did get them into power. Maybe it was a different time or culture, but it's possible.
Both leading opposition parties are opposed to reducing the deficit. This might change in the future if and when populists are in office I think. Former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton - of all people - has suggested having an RN (nationalist) prime minister as it is the largest party in Parliament!
Good piece!
If only we had some European rules about how much % debt and how much of a deficit a country could have, or something
I can’t help feeling that the media is partly to blame for the pensions issue. They can’t help but side with the “poor” pensioner. But the journalists would probably retort that stories about how the numbers don’t add up with today’s pension settings don’t get as many clicks!
Things will only ever get worse.
Deindustrialization of Germany should offer a reprieve to France.
I'm not sure it's zero-sum gain like that
>Macron’s tepid 2023 pension reform led to massive social unrest in which young people played a major role. Over 80% of French young people (aged below 35) opposed the reform. French young people seem to think public pensions’ sustainability is merely a matter of political will and one’s preferred conception of social justice.
I am not usually one to defend protestors, but there is some sense in which these reforms are always throwing the young(er) under the bus. It's not enough to just raise the age of retirement, you also have to reduce the benefits in some way (or at the very least cap their growth).
Yeah, like things are real peachy in the US.