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Paris: The French government on Friday vowed to press on with plans to reform the pension system despite protests that drew hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets of French cities a day earlier.
President Nicolas Sarkozy wants employees to work 41 years instead of 40 to qualify for a full state pension, arguing that rising life expectancy means the current system is unsustainable.
"Of course we will continue with the pension reform. It's essential if we want to guarantee a pension for everyone," Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand said on Europe 1 radio.
Responsibility
"If we don't act responsibly in 2008, by 2012 we will have a deficit of 11 billion euros (Dh63.7 billion). That means one out of ten pensions would not be funded which is not possible," he said.
In a rare show of unity, France's eight main unions had called for demonstrations against the reform plan on Thursday. They said over 700,000 people marched in cities across the country, while police put the figure at 300,000.
But the demonstrations lacked the fire of 2003 when more than one million people protested against earlier pension reform plans and some pro-government commentators suggested that many people, deep down, recognised some reform was needed.
The unions say it is not fair to require people to work for longer when only 38 per cent of people aged 55 to 64 have got jobs. They say high unemployment for that age group should be addressed first.
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