Emmanuel Macron has indicated he could compromise on his heavily contested proposal to raise France’s retirement age by three years to 65, in an attempt to court voters ahead of the decisive second-round of the presidential election, reports The Guardian.
The president, who faces a tough campaign for a second term against the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, announced he would consider adjusting the timing and age of the controversial pension reform.
“I am ready to change the timeline and say we don’t necessarily have to do the reform by 2030 if I feel that people are too worried about it,” Macron said in northern France. He added that he was also prepared to consider raising the official retirement age to 64 rather than 65.
“I’ll open the door if this means a consensus,” he added.
Macron had pledged to implement the pension reforms during his first five years in office, leading to widespread protests and strikes. It has been a pillar of his reelection campaign. Retirement and pensions are incendiary subjects in France.
The current retirement age is 62 and Macron has argued that with people living longer, France’s pension system, which relies on those in work paying directly for those who have stopped, cannot be financially balanced without reform. His original proposal called for raising the retirement age by four months every year to reach 65 by 2032. Le Pen has said she will keep France’s retirement age at 60 for those who started work at a young age.
On Monday, Macron said other options could be considered and there would be special consideration for those in difficult and laborious jobs.
“I can’t say I want to unite people and listen, and then when I hear people say that’s it, I’m not budging,” he told BFMTV. “If I want to unite people, I have to listen.”
In the interview with BFMTV after his visit to Le Pen territory in France’s post-industrial northern rust belt on Monday, Macron, who is campaigning in eastern France on Tuesday, said he would be telephoning the other 10 candidates who lost in the first round vote.
“I am president of all the French and I want to talk to everyone. The country is divided,” Macron said.