To bridge a growing shortfall in France's state-run pension funds, he has proposed increasing the standard, minimum retirement age to 62 years, from a current level of 60. Sarkozy says French people can't afford to retire earlier than most of their EU neighbors, which have cut pension benefits or raised future retirement ages in accordance with rising life expectancies. Sarkozy told journalists during a briefing in the northern French city of Deauville. "The biggest problem would be if I failed to do my duty, to make sure that we can pay for today's and tomorrow's pensions," Mr. Sarkozy, who has said he won't give in to street protests, and repeated on Tuesday that he aimed to press ahead with the pension overhaul. The confrontation with unions is proving a major test for Mr. "French people don't like it when strikes disrupt their everyday life."
Sarkozy," said François Miquet-Marty of French polling group Viavoice. "The more radical the protests get, the better for Mr. Sarkozy's predecessors have backed down in the face of public protests. Political analysts said the French president's intransigence could eventually become an asset. But as the strikes continue and become more crippling, with sporadic violence, the tide may turn in favor of Mr. Sarkozy has vowed won't derail the government plans-could tarnish the leader's presidency, fewer than two years before the next elections.įrench people so far have shown sympathy for worker protests, according to several opinion polls. The protests-which are the biggest resistance to economic-austerity measures across the European Union but which Mr. PARIS-French labor unions vowed to keep demonstrating in the streets, thwarting gasoline supplies, flights and public transport, as rolling strikes against President Nicolas Sarkozy's pension overhaul enter their second week. Search the Unions : Strikes Intensify in France