Protestors march in Paris on Thursday during nationwide strike against austerity measures and tax justice. Image credit: France 24
(The Post News) – Protesters flooded the streets of more than 200 French cities and towns on Thursday, as unions staged a one-day national strike against proposed spending cuts and demanded higher taxation of the wealthy.
In Paris, students, pensioners, and workers marched by the thousands from the Place d’Italie in the afternoon. The Eiffel Tower announced that it was closing because of the strike, symbolizing the scale of the disruption caused by the mobilization.
The walkout, called by France’s largest unions, is the latest in a series of protests which erupted last month amid political turmoil and bitter budget negotiations. The planned measures, first launched under former Prime Minister François Bayrou, would freeze social welfare benefits and impose additional austerity, cutting the purchasing power of middle- and low-income classes, union leaders said.
Unions Push for Wealth Tax
Unions want newly elected Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to abandon his predecessor’s austerity budget and instead impose a wealth tax on France’s richest citizens.
Sophie Binet, the head of the CGT union, said on Thursday that the mobilizations reflect “enormous social anger.” Asserting to BFM TV, she explained: “It’s true, it’s the first time there are three days of strikes and protests in a month without a government or a budget. That shows the level of frustration. We want to be heard before decisions are made.”
The French Interior Ministry counted 195,000 marchers nationwide, 24,000 in Paris. That is fewer than the massive protests of September 18, which had brought out between 500,000 (police estimate) and one million (unions’ estimate).
Despite the reduced participation, Thursday’s strike still disrupted daily life. The state rail company, SNCF, reported partial delays on regional lines, and the suburban trains of Paris ran at a reduced level. Metro services and high-speed trains more or less ran normally. Teachers and health care professionals joined the strike in smaller numbers than in September’s walkouts.
The walkout piles pressure on Prime Minister Lecornu, who has yet to appoint his cabinet or present his intentions for the 2026 budget. He must contend with a highly divided parliament in which President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist group lacks a majority.
Macron’s previous prime minister, François Bayrou, was forced out after demanding €44 billion in cuts to health budgets and local authority spending, along with a freeze on state expenditure. Bayrou described France’s rising debt as “life-threatening,” yet unions argue that austerity unfairly targets ordinary people instead of the rich.
Lecornu has promised to do things differently but reminded Le Parisien last week that France cannot close its eyes to its debt. “The IMF isn’t on the gates of Bercy,” he said, “but to think we can let things slide without there being any impact on citizens isn’t realistic either.”
Calls for “Fiscal Justice”
Union officials have warned Lecornu against revamping Bayrou’s plans. They are looking for a more equal distribution of the tax burden, like bringing back a wealth tax and reversing Macron’s unpopular pension reform that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The outrage exists, and it will not end,” said Binet. The opposition parties were no different. La France Insoumise’s Manuel Bompard called the strikes “very political mobilizations against the government and the President’s policies.
Lecornu will submit his budget plan in the coming days, ahead of parliamentary debates later this year. The Socialists have already said that their support for this budget may be contingent upon introducing a wealth tax.
While unions take to the streets and opposition parties attempt to take advantage of the momentum, Lecornu has a tricky balancing act: placating demands for fiscal justice without convincing markets and EU partners that France remains committed to cutting its deficit.
The French streets are for now a battleground, with the unions not allowing austerity to pass and calling for a tax system that, in their view, makes the rich share more of the burden.
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