France Raises Retirement Age; Sparks Backlash

The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, has recently been under fire after he announced that he is going to raise the retirement age in France from sixty-two to sixty-four.

For obvious reasons, this highly went against what the public actually wanted. However, France is still one of the highest pension payers in the entire world.

Protests have been going on throughout the country and especially in the streets of Paris. Protests, which had started in January of 2023, have caused many teachers, and other union workers, to strike. The strikes have only gotten worse as well.

According to BBC News, thousands of protesters have been gathering the streets throughout the last couple days, and one-hundred-twenty have been arrested.

Macron was just reelected last year but he has definitely been a very controversial president throughout his time in office. He scolded the unvaccinated and basically called them worthless by not giving them basic human rights. He has also made a lot of decisions that have gone against a lot of the public opinion in France.