Macron to meet with unions and employers

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet today with representatives of the country’s trade and employer’s unions.

Macron is expected to address France on July 14—Bastille Day—with a set of pledges for the reformation of France’s archaic pension system. The current pension system currently costs the French public 14% of total economic output. Although Macron previously acknowledged that the pandemic made the reforms like raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 that he originally campaigned on difficult, and although business leaders have urged patience, Macron was elected as an economic reformer and risks his reelection by waiting.

Pension reform is one of the few ways Macron sees his and his En Marche party’s political future remaining relevant. As the last round of national elections recently finalized with record-low voter turnout, Macron understands that to maintain his centrist coalition means fully delivering on previous campaign promises. By voting on a wide slate of pension reforms in the Autumn of 2021, Macron is hoping that legislative victory will deprive conservatives of political capital just before the Spring 2022 elections, thereby cementing his reelection.