France's Macron to unveil controversial new pension reform

The French government is set to announce its proposals for overhauling the pension system, in a potentially explosive reform fraught with danger for President Emmanuel Macron.

With his oft-repeated belief that the French "need to work more", Macron has doggedly insisted since his rise to power in 2017 that the pension system must be streamlined.

But having called off his first attempt in 2020 in the face of protests and the Covid-19 pandemic, the 45-year-old centrist put the issue at the heart of his successful campaign for a second term in April last year.

As well as simplifying the system and removing privileges enjoyed by workers in some sectors of the economy, the reform will aim to raise the retirement age from its current level of 62 - most likely to 64.

"On the whole, the idea of the reform is not supported by the public, even though some can understand that if we live for longer then we might need to work for longer," Bruno Cautres, a political expert at Sciences Po university in Paris, said.

There will also be a proposed rise in the minimum pension to 1,200 euros ($1,280) a month and greater provision for people who have not worked continuously, such as parents who took career breaks to care for children.

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All of France's trade unions and most of the country's opposition political parties are preparing for battle, seeing the struggle as a way of protecting the country's social system and undermining Macron's position.

The former investment banker lost his parliamentary majority in legislative elections in June in a major setback.

He made pension reform one of the main pillars of his plans for domestic reform during his second term.

"If Emmanuel Macron wants to make it the mother of reforms... for us it will be the mother of battles," warned the head of the hard-left FO union, Frederic Souillot, over the weekend.