Nearly two out of three French people are in favor of continuing the protests against the pension reform, enacted this weekend by the president, Emmanuel Macron, and opposed by a large majority of citizens, according to a new poll published Monday.
The poll, drawn up by the Elabe firm and released by BFMTV, puts the proportion of those who want the protests to continue at 64 percent. Forty-five percent of the 1,003 people interviewed go further and want these mobilizations to get tougher.
The unions have called 12 official strike days since January, although the tension on the streets of France has been almost constant. For now, only 35 percent of citizens believe that it is time for the strikes, which have also dented the image of the country’s main leaders, to end.
The main pillars of the reform, including the delay in the retirement age to 64, received the judicial endorsement of the Constitutional Council on Friday. However, 69 percent of French people remain opposed to a law that Macron has always defended as »necessary» to sustain the public system.
The law, however, does seem to enjoy greater support among the president’s supporters, 73 percent in favor of the reform — ten points more than a month ago. Seventy-seven percent of Macron’s supporters in fact believe that it is time to »turn the page» on one of the biggest political and social crises in France’s recent history.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)