The Telegraph, March 24, Robert Tombs
Here is a tale of two cities. In one, the Government, with little regard for constitutional niceties, pushed through a measure based on principles it had been elected to oppose – the Windsor Framework. In the other, the government used legal constitutional provisions to pass a pensions reform for which it could argue it had a public mandate. In the first city, the response was weary acceptance or even relief. In the second, the response was of outrage expressed though violent protests.
Admittedly, in London, it was a mere matter of national sovereignty, whereas in Paris it affected the money in people’s pockets. Yet a similar increase in the pension age was adopted in Britain in 2011 and again in 2014 with little opposition, and France has one of the earliest retirement ages in Europe and one of the biggest national debts. So why do so many moderate people in France sympathise with extreme protests against a reasonable reform? And why do they take to the streets with few inhibitions against violence?
Part of it this time is Macron’s personality and his anomalous political position. A veteran French journalist once said to me that Macron had always been “the cleverest chap in the room”, and he does not hide it. He can be tactless and arrogant. Moreover, he was elected somewhat grudgingly because he was not Marine Le Pen. Macron has never enjoyed the affections of most French people, more and more of whom have decided they dislike him.
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