Tens Of Thousands Of French Citizens Take To The Streets Again, Protest Plans For Budget Cuts

UNSPLASH/Martti Salmi ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of French cities on Thursday, following calls by unions demanding action against plans for a sharp budget cuts in the budget next year.

Unions want to continue to pressure President Emmanuel Macron and his new prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu, who is racing against parliament's schedule to break deadlocks in budget negotiations with political competitors.

Macron and its prime minister, who are still trying to form a cabinet, need to control public finances in the country with the second-largest economy in the euro zone, while EU counterparts, rating agencies, and financial markets are monitoring the next steps.

However, union leaders, including from the largest trade unions in France, CFDT, and CGT, are demanding increased spending on public services, canceling retirement age, and higher taxes for the rich.

"We need to end all the sacrifices demanded by the workers as stated in the (last) budget proposal," CGT Secretary General Sophie Binet told BFM TV.

Macron's last prime minister, Francois Bayrou, was ousted by parliament for a 44 billion euro budget cuts plan. Lecornu has promised to stop the plan.

"The question is what exactly is it?" said CFDT Secretary-General Marylise Leon, to reporters ahead of the protests in Paris.

About 85,000 people have rallied across the country by noon, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs - less than half the number of participants reported at the same time in a one-day mass strike and demonstration in September.

"We have to continue the struggle, although our numbers are clearly not large," said construction worker Dominique Menier, 59, who attended the protests in Nantes.

"Every time we protest, we have to pay for one day. But that's how democracy usually develops." Protests are scheduled for more than 240 locations across France, said the CGT union, including Dijon, Metz, Poitiers, and Montpellier.

Students carrying flares blocked the entrance to a high school in Paris, while several schools in other areas of the country were also blocked.

About 76,000 police officers were deployed to maintain order.

Last year's French budget deficit almost doubled the EU ceiling by 3%. Lecornu faces a struggle to gather parliamentary support for the 2026 budget, requiring support from its right-right camp while offering something to the Socialists and their voters.

Parties generally agreed on the need to cut the deficit, which hit 5.8% of GDP by 2024, but did not agree on how to do so.

Lecornu, Macron's fifth prime minister in two years, has promised a budget that provides more "fiscal justice".

He has ruled out the wealth tax but said the distribution of tax burdens should be diverted.

Alexandra Thomas, a 53-year-old aerospace worker who took part in a demonstration in Nantes, expressed skepticism Lecornu would be different from Macron's previous prime ministers.

"My only concern is that we have different people, but we will continue the same policy," he said.