France pension protests: Crowd clashes with police over government reform by decree France pension protests: Crowd clashes with police over government reform by decree - BBC News
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I read that Borne might be “sacrificed” but I don’t know why. Why is her job on the line?
I imagine because she invoked the clause.
Prime ministers are two a penny these days, here today and gone tomorrow if they proove unpopular.
France following the Tory party lead? 
Not stuffed up our wi ter fuel payments, blatantly lied and stole them.
Bit of cross treading here but though the government hasn’t lied it’s used a non democratic 49.3 and stolen a couple of years from us now having to work a bit longer and ending up with less.
I doubt very much you and Jim, need these Winter fuel payments (though it was your right to have them at the time, but I think they should have been means tested) but many others will… I also see that France has over the last couple of years helped a lot of UK pensioners and those on low income the last being I think chèque énergie fioul et bois? 200€ par-ci 100€ par-là…. I don’t begrudge that my taxes are paying for this.
Continuing the cross tread what are the investors and financial institutions doing, seriously? Helping our aging population / retirement, our social services. Na doubt it. I read in Les Échos that we’re (in France) eating 9 percent less because of financial pressure on income… 
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Talking of eating less here, I looked at these advertised ranges of low price food products in two supermarkets yesterday that have been arranged to help people afford their food. To be honest, some of it was dreadful and did not tempt me in the least to buy when I read the ingredients and nutri scores on the packaging. I’d rather put better food in my stomach and go without other things I can do without.
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I assume that this new law is to force French workers to work another 2 years to qualify for a full pension, is it? I retired here just over 20 years ago at the age of 60 with no comment made at all except that I was advised, if I did some part time work (thus making more contributions) and deferred it for a few months, it would be augmented somewhat.
What I didn’t expect was that, although I did not do any other work, when I finally claimed it less than a year later, it was double what I had been led to believe. 
As regards the title of the thread, I did just under 550 kms yesterday down to Mont de Marsan and back and only saw what I assumed were the tail ends of demonstrations, people still milling about talking and who politely moved apart to let me through. 
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Think it will be on again tomorrow and until people get fed up of turning out plus most workers have to be at work, obviously to contribute towards their final pension. Yes I have delayed my french pension until next year and it has already been quoted many times higher than if I had taken it now.
Not quite. The full pension retirement age has been for a long time 67 wether or not you have the required trimester’s. This new reform has upped the minimum retirement age even if you have the required trimesters.
There are also a lot of french people especially in the agricultural sector who have worked far longer than the required time for a full pension but who never declared/were declared to the fisc and were paid in cash or were family members and these have lost out greatly because they cannot proove they worked. One of my neighbours was in this situation having worked on the family farm for cash and not being declared by his father and then working as a communal worker for the rest, well over 45years total but he only got a very minimal pension when he stopped the other year and had to supplement it with working for a local farmer, cash in hand. There was/is a lot of ignorance of not paying in to the secu.
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Interesting article on the BBC here about the changes to French politics caused by Macron, suggesting among other things that he’s pushed the opposition and any alternatives to become more extreme.
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Wow, that would have stuffed me good and proper then. As it was it was a fine line judging if we were secure enough financially for me to go early, and we had a very shaky first year or so, not because of the French government but the British one which had made a drastic mistake on my wife’s entitlement. Finally sorted out to our advantage by our wonderful then Labour MP. The awful Anna Soubry’s forerunner, Nick Palmer.
I’m sad to say, food quality in French supermarches seems notably lower than when we started visiting more than 30 years ago. 
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Surely @Shiba that is what is wrong with the country. Call a spade a spade, that is working on the black, no 2 ways about it and if you don’t contribute in the recognised way you have only yourself to blame. I have always been very particular about being within the law, having worked as a volunteer around 13 years now. I have been paid not a cent and only received legitimate expenses, keeping meticulous records of every cent and where it was paid and why.
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Unfortunately bad or lack of education was also to blame especially in rural communities which also had a lot of inter-family marriages resulting sometimes in mentally or bodily deficient offspring and no professional help. I too, like you have kept meticulous records since arriving in early 90’s both for the business and personal so if anyone wants to ask questions, I have the answers and proof of what went where.
And, as foreigners, we have a particular interest in staying within the law, just to be allowed to stay put. 
But also, if these people you speak of are incapable of understanding and working within the law, how come they are suddenly so knowledgable when it comes to pensions and possibly getting worked up about it enough to protest and disrupt on the streets? Manipulation by others perhaps?
I don’t find myself disagreeing with @Wozza very often but on this issue I do.
What @Jane_Williamson is really referring to I believe is the inequity of it all.
Perhaps you can explain your comments in the context of the fact that it was only France where the WFA was withdrawn?
Other countries in the EU (such as Italy in particular) which is warmer generally overall than France IIRC got to retain the WFA.
One can speculate the reasons behind IDS’ decision of course but the fact does remain nonetheless.
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From what little I know about it is that this benefit was introduced to help pensioners pay heating bills not taking into account real income, so by default a pension top up or a nice bonus for those without need. If in Milan, Marseille or Maidstone I think the government was very sneaky and unjust.