Day of strike and demonstration in France, calling for the budget adjustment to be lifted

Dozens of people have been arrested in the first half of the morning in France for participating in attempts to block the day of strike and demonstration organised by all trade unions to demand the withdrawal of the planned adjustment in the budgets drawn up by the previous government.

According to BFMTV, citing police sources, 55 arrests have been recorded throughout France until 10 a.m.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has warned that the 80,000 police and gendarmes he has mobilized for this day of protest are ordered to "contact" in the event of riots or attacks on property and persons.

The General Secretary of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Sophie Binet, has called for 260 parades across the country: "We have never been so strong."

In statements to the media, Binet has stressed that the new prime minister, the macronist Sébastien Lecornu, is "aware of his weakness" and "I know he can be censored within two or three weeks," and therefore believes that pressure must be put on him to reverse the draft budget that his predecessor, the centrist François Bayrou, was preparing.

Bayrou wanted a $44 billion deficit cut that reached 5.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2024 and should remain at 5.4% this year.

This adjustment was to be effected primarily by maintaining public expenditure, by freezing social benefits and civil servants' salaries, and by abolishing two holidays.

The Secretary-General of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) , Marilyse Leon, has stated that "workers cannot be the only ones contributing to the efforts" and has criticized the budgets prepared by François Bayrou as a "museum of horrors" and an "unacceptable catalogue."

Leon has called for the new executive to be formed by the new Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, to abandon this project and to make "fair budgets" from a social, fiscal, and ecological point of view.

Among the main demands of the unions is the application of the so-called 'Zucman tax', which would tax 2% on those with assets of more than EUR 100 million, about 1,800 taxpayers.

They also call for the suspension of the implementation of the 2023 pension reform, which progressively delays the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64, and for increased control over the EUR 200 billion in aid to companies.

France's public debt amounts to 114% of gross domestic product (GDP) and a huge deficit of 5.8% by 2024, almost double the 3% limit set by European rules.