France’s Macron Wins Pyrrhic Victory on Pension Reform

Welcome back to World Brief, where France approves raising the retirement age, Brazil inches closer to China, and North Korea flexes its nuclear muscles.

After almost three months of mass protests, France’s Constitutional Council on Friday approved the majority of President Emmanuel Macron’s highly unpopular pension reform bill. The now-approved legislation will increase the country’s retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030, starting in September with incremental increases. Six parts of the pension bill were rejected, and a referendum on the decision—requested by 252 parliamentarians—was denied. Macron is expected to sign the bill into law within the next 48 hours.

In March, Macron used a special constitutional power to force the pension reform bill through the National Assembly without a vote, leading to major union strikes across the country. Demonstrations on the eve of Friday’s ruling called for Paris’s wealthy elite to contribute more to the state pension fund, and security in Paris was heightened in advance of the decision. More than 130 protests are predicted following Friday’s court outcome. “The Constitutional Council decision shows that it is more attentive to the needs of the presidential monarchy than to those of the sovereign people,” far-left La France Insoumise leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon posted on Twitter. “The fight continues and must gather its forces.”

Macron argues the reforms are necessary to keep the pension system solvent in the long term. The French government predicted an annual shortfall of $14.8 billion by 2030 if the reform bill was not passed. Yet in his iron determination to carry out reforms that he believes are in “the general interest of the country,” Macron has lost the support of the people, journalist Michele Barbero argued. “The political legitimacy of Macron’s second mandate is being called into question,” Célia Belin, who runs the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Barbero.

To help resuscitate that legitimacy, Macron has looked abroad. The French leader visited Beijing this month to secure numerous construction project deals and trade agreements. But that has only soured global opinion of him, with Western governments fearing Paris is not taking a tough enough stance against China as it fails to sanction Russia over its war in Ukraine. And the French are still angry.

• Why China Should Worry About Asia’s Reaction to AUKUS by Derek Grossman

• Poll: What Is the Likelihood of War Over Taiwan? by FP Contributors

• Europe Is Disastrously Split on China by Thorsten Benner

Brazil sidles up to China. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was welcomed to Beijing with full military honors by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday in the two leaders’ most significant meeting yet. China is Brazil’s largest trading partner, and Lula used his second day visiting the superpower as an opportunity to boost trade and diplomatic ties. The two leaders also agreed on the need for a negotiated peace in Ukraine—something both countries have offered to help broker. In addition, Lula suggested on Thursday that the so-called BRICS nations—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—use an alternative currency to the dollar for foreign trade to push against U.S. global dominance, something Xi has consistently campaigned for.

Pyongyang eyes the big red button. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may be the next Dr. Strangelove. On Friday, the autocrat announced the successful test of a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile. The goal of the test was to “radically promote” Pyongyang’s nuclear effectiveness and enable it to “constantly strike extreme uneasiness and horror” into the nation’s enemies, according to North Korean state media. This was the country’s first use of solid propellants in that type of missile, which help make them faster to deploy in times of war. The announcement comes after Japan issued an evacuation order on Thursday after North Korea launched a missile that authorities initially feared could hit the northern island of Hokkaido.

Ouagadougou mobilizes against terrorism. Burkina Faso’s government authorized a “general mobilization” on Thursday to combat rising terrorism. The West African nation has been a hotbed for jihadi attacks, specifically by fighters affiliated with al Qaeda or the Islamic State. Last week alone, 44 civilians were killed by armed terrorist groups. And in the past seven years, more than 10,000 people have been killed and 2 million more displaced by the violence. The mobilization order, issued by interim President Ibrahim Traoré, will grant the federal government greater power by kick-starting a state of emergency in terrorism-affected regions. Traoré has previously said he hopes to recapture 40 percent of the country’s territory taken by jihadis.

On Tuesday, Australia suspended a World Trade Organization complaint against China in an effort to reopen bilateral trade of which product?

A. Lumber
B. Wine
C. Beef
D. Barley

For the world’s biggest (and most fun) water fight, visit Thailand, where tens of thousands of people celebrated their new year on Thursday by donning floral shirts, blasting plastic water guns, drinking beer, and dancing in the streets. Even Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha got drenched.

D. Barley

China imposed an 80 percent tariff on Australian barley in 2020 amid a geopolitical dispute. Beijing has a history of wielding tariffs like a cudgel, Charles Edel and Edward Fishman write.

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