Home Europe Macron gives up presidential pension, asks for Christmas truce on strikes

Macron gives up presidential pension, asks for Christmas truce on strikes

by editor

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on the strikers paralyzing the country’s railways to observe a Christmas “truce” and offered to renounce his presidential pension.

Two weeks of widespread strike action against Macron’s planned pension reforms have brought much of France to a standstill. Rail transport, including high-speed TGV trains and the Paris metro, has been operating at half the normal capacity.

Speaking at a press conference in the Ivory Coast late on Saturday, Macron urged transport unions to suspend their strike over the holiday period out of respect “for family life” and the French people who “are sometimes apart and wish to be reunited during this festive period.”

He also renounced his presidential pension of €6,220 a month on Saturday, Le Monde reported, and gave up his future lifelong membership on France’s constitutional council, which every former French president is entitled to. The constitutional council seat would have come with a €13,500 monthly stipend.

Previous President François Hollande also renounced this perk, but Macron is the first president to renounce his pension, according to Le Monde. An Elysée spokesperson told AFP that Macron also wants to apply his proposed points system to the presidential pension in the future.

Several unions have ruled out a Christmas truce so far.

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