President Macron is slowly resolving France’s winter of discontent
Anyone outside of France watching footage of Tuesday’s demonstration by firefighters on the streets of Paris must have been taken aback by both the ferocity of the protest and the vigorous response of the police.
The pompiers, who, like most other public sector workers, are opposed to the pension reforms proposed by President Macron, were accompanied on their march by many of the same anarchists and Far-Left “Ultras,” or casseurs, who last year infiltrated the ranks of the provincial gilets jaunes, displaying a bloody-minded disregard for public safety.
Thousands of Paris’s Bravest, many wearing their steel helmets and protective vests, advanced up the Cours de Vincennes flanked by Ultras waving skull & crossbones flags, lighting flares and beating drums. Barriers erected by the police intended to prevent the demonstrators from reaching the Place de la Nation were stormed, leading to a pitched battle with the city’s Finest, who used not only their batons but water cannon and tear gas.
But not all was as it seemed. No serious injuries were reported and only two arrests were made, neither of them pompiers. The two sides were in a difficult position, and they knew it. The firefighters union, UNSA-SDIS, and the police union, UNSA-SCPN, have adopted identical positions in the ongoing conflict. Indeed, just last October the police organised their own “Day of Rage” in which they demanded that all their existing privileges, including early retirement, generous pensions and long-service bonuses, be retained no matter what.
Normally, during other, more widespread, protests, the police and firefighters operate together, with the former knocking heads while the latter rescue the injured and douse any cars and rubbish bins that have been set on fire.
Ironically, Tuesday’s march coincided with a formal announcement by the UNSA-SDIS that it has called off its eight-month-long dispute in recognition of a concession by interior minister Christophe Castaner. The concession grants them improved terms of employment, notably an increase in the bonuses paid to them when they are forced into dangerous situations from 19 per cent to 25 per cent of their indexed salaries.
Earlier this month, Castaner had reached an accommodation with the police and gendarmerie that preserved many of their existing privileges in return for various administrative reforms. Now it was the turn of the fire department.
Where this leaves Macron and his reform programme it is difficult to say. But at least the Government’s own front-line troops, having let off steam, look to have been cajoled into an uneasy acceptance of change. Without them, Macron and Castaner would have been at the mercy of the rail unions – still intermittently on strike after 56 days – and, potentially, Les Misérables – the yellow vest movement – who still cast a baleful shadow over events.
The President, via his representative on Earth, prime minister Edouard Philippe, has already rowed back on his plan to increase the retirement age for those entitled to full state pensions from 62 to 64, which placated many, though not all, on the union side of the table. But since then he has dug in his heels, apparently waiting for the strikers to give up out of sheer exhaustion and lack of cash – a strategy which is showing some signs of working. Demonstrations these days are on a much smaller scale than in the lead-up to Christmas, when the protest was at its height. The smart money may well end up distributed between government and unions, causing each to feel that they can back off with a measure of dignity.
For Macron, the last year has been hugely frustrating. He desperately needs to get some top-order legislation through the National Assembly but has been stymied at every turn by the need to deal with agitation on the streets. In the manner of Boris Johnson with Brexit, he needs to Get Pension Reform Done. Without it, he lacks all authority. With it, he can move on, no doubt to play a key behind-the-scenes role in the upcoming wrangle between the UK and the EU over a future trade deal.
But French politics is not all about Emmanuel Macron. Nationwide municipal elections are due to take place on March 22, providing a real test for the En Marche Government. Some of Macron’s MPs are unhappy with their role as unemployed rubber stamps and, in the French fashion, are eyeing forms of political engagement closer to home. The President has said that any of his ministers who get elected as mayors will have to resign, which could cause some consternation in the ranks.
Most interesting of all, the contest to be Mayor of Paris – often a stepping stone to the Élysée – will feature two of the country’s best-known female politicians, the incumbent Anne Hidalgo, nominally a Socialist, and Rachida Dati, a protogée of Nicholas Sarkozy’s, who briefly employed her as his spokesperson and, later, justice minister. Hidalgo is Spanish; Dati is a Muslim. Neither is a member of en Marche, which is finding it increasingly difficult to stamp its image on the popular imagination.
There is much still to play for in France after what has proved an unusually long and drawn-out winter of discontent. But, for the moment, the police and firefighters are back to being part of the solution rather than part of the problem. It may only be one step forward, but at least it is not two steps back. For the nation’s embattled President, that is progress.