PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron is aiming to calm public anger that threatens the ambitions of his remaining four years in power with a first televised address to the nation on Monday since he enacted protest-igniting pension reforms.
The evening address kicks off a likely arduous battle for the second-term president to repair the damage done to his public image and legislative plans by forcing through an increase in France’s retirement age from 62 to 64.
Opponents of the unpopular reform called for people to bang pots and pans outside government offices during the address, with the rallying cry: “Macron won’t listen to us? We won’t listen to him!”
Weakened in parliament, where his camp lost its absolute majority in legislative elections last year, Macron’s government needs to reconstruct alliances of lawmakers to push ahead with his legislative program. –Agencies
