Emmanuel Macron presented with baguette in Washington DC
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French President Emmanuel Macron believes training young people in the French Universal Nations Service should become mandatory for four weeks for those aged between 15 and 17. The scheme was reintroduced on a voluntary basis in 2019 but only 32,000 youths signed up last year.
Macron is now facing opposition from all sides to his plan, from teachers and students unions to opposition MPs and even his own party members.
They all say the project will be too expensive and doubt the value of the training on young people.
The scheme includes a mandatory two-week stay, the purpose of which is to transmit a republican base and then a mission of general interest which takes place in the year following the cohesion stay.
If the compulsory character is retained with accommodation, it could cost between €1.5 and €3 billion a year.
The idea is to promote a sense of civic duty and national unity among French youth,.as well as give them something to do other than play computer games and look at their phones.
Sarah El Hairy, the minister for youth, described the scheme as “neither a summer camp, nor the army, nor school, but the best part of all three”.
Phase one of the scheme is a one-month placement that will “enable young people to create new relationships and develop their role in society”.
The second phase is voluntary and lasts between three months and a year. Youngsters will be encouraged to serve “in an area linked to defence and security”.– but they may also opt to volunteer for work linked to heritage, the environment, or social care.
Commenting on the scheme, the editor of Le Figaro’s weekly magazine, Guillame Roquette said: “It is difficult to recreate a patriotic sentiment in an individualistic society where few people would accept the constraints that went with conscription.
“The danger, therefore, is to give birth to a dubious project that does not have much use, costs an arm and a leg, and whose main purpose is to enable the president to pronounce fine speeches.”
The French President is also in the midst of introducing new pension reforms which are sparking fury across the country.
His government has presented a bill that calls for the increase of the retirement age in France to 64 and 65 years of age for women and men respectively.
But the French President is facing the prospect of mass protests as trade unions oppose the bill, denouncing that the pension reform is unjust and will give rise to social conflict.
The real risk is therefore of a general mobilisation of workers as it happened already in 2019.
The bill is being debated in Matignon, the seat of the government in Paris, for a new consultation before the expected presentation of the reform expected in a week.
Moreover, the majority of French people are against raising the retirement age or extending contributions.
Buried at the end of 2019 after indefinite strikes that paralysed the nation, the French pension reform was among the major projects not implemented by President Macron in the previous presidential term (2017-2022).
During the electoral campaign that reconfirmed him as president last April, Mr Macron had nevertheless pledged to have it launched as soon as possible in case of re-election.
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Reacting to the plans, CFTC trade union President Cyril Chabanier told EURACTIV: “The government is obsessed with raising the retirement age.”
Mr Chabanier claimed that a €4-to-€5 increase could end the pension deficit faced by the government and for which the reform is allegedly been introduced.
But he added: “But the private sector claims this will increase unemployment rates, and so the government refuses to act.”
Another union official who wanted to remain unanimous, also told EURACTIV: “Macron wants a clash and hopes that unions will struggle to mobilise – pensions reform is no sexy topic.”
François Hommeril, president of the reformist CFE/CGC trade union, said there is no other option but to “prepare for conflict” at this point.
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