Rodrigo Arenas, a Chilean who works as an ambassador in the National Assembly of France, in an interview with BioBioChile developed the serious social and political crisis that the country is experiencing after the pension reform presented by President Emmanuel Macron, who “despised” the parliamentarians. vote and just faced one of the worst waves of protests the European nation has ever seen.
French President Emmanuel Macron wants to achieve controversial pension reform by the end of the year, a political move that has sparked chaos and anger in the streets.
However, according to polls in France, up to 70% of the population rejects it and the approval rating of the president’s policies is the lowest in recent years at 28%.
But Macron, who is in his second term, seems to have little power.
“I can’t fix it in four years. I don’t respect popular ratings, I do what is necessary for the country,” he said in a live interview from the Elysée Palace.
Pushing the increase in the retirement age to 64 against the majority of the French “doesn’t make me happy, but it had to be done,” said the president.
It is against this mission that Rodrigo Arenas spoke with BioBioChile, a Chilean who was elected ambassador in France, and who is now a member of parliament from the European country.
Roderic Arenas, Chilean and Vicar in France
Rodrigo Arenas, the son of a Chilean exile, became ambassador to France for the leftist coalition Nueva Unión Popular Ecológica y Social (Nupes) in June last year.
Arenas was born in a Valparaíso hospital in April 1974 and follows in the footsteps of Sergio Coronado, another Chilean exile who was ambassador from 2012 to 2017.
The left-wing political party was informed that Macron’s mistake was an attempt to force a pension reform far removed from the customs embedded in French culture.
Question: Is it a mistake for Macron to push for such a radical reform?
Answer: Let’s say the mistake he makes is wanting to impose a social, economic and political model that does not correspond to French culture.
“The French are very attached to the state of social protection of their health system (discrimination of the individualist philosophy of some laws) and finally to the republic, which loves its citizens from childhood to retirement,” explained Arenas.
“So this idea asked the workers to continue the best years in a productive way, which in an age when working is difficult, has become the most important break, the biggest disconnection. Between the institutional representation of the margin of delegation of power with popular aspirations,” he added.
“The French do not want reform”;
“The big losers of this last decade in the middle class, that’s exactly what the state of health was supposed to be for more than 50 years,” he continued.
And so, as the proconsul explained, the whole crisis was driven by the loss of values, when the people no longer felt represented by the Government.
“This happens with the fact that the president bypasses a secret pension with an article of the Constitution that does not need a vote of parliament. People understood that if Macron did not bypass it, he would not have the votes,” he said.
“A large part of French men and women do not want this reform and even without a popular vote going through the only national vote, which is the National Assembly,” argued the deputy.
Service message to Emmanuel Macron. I hope this is it pic.twitter.com/tra4k2MUcu
— Roderic Arenas (@arenasrodrigo_) March 23, 2023
Macron’s contradictions?
Question: Can Emmanuel Macron be said to be contradicting himself about his political campaign? With several dialogues it is commanded.
The answer is: he guides us with opinions that contradict what he thinks and that is the problem.
“Social dialogue is very important in France, for example between the unions and the government. But this is not meant to explain to adults what is happening now, because they do not understand what is happening”, but in turn explained the deputy.
And he also added that “when you have a union leader who explains the current reform and why the future is precarious, others do not agree and say that people do not understand anything.”
“In other words, at this moment the inter-union is very rare to exist in France, which agrees with the same slogan that may seem strange in Chile. It is about the retirement of 60 years with 40 years of contribution and that hegemonized the country,” he added.
“Everyone is already in favor of him and those who do not agree with him are a minority. Macer has done the wrong way,” Arenas said.
Legitimate demonstrations? Yes, says the Chilean deputy in France
Question: Macron has partially denied the legitimacy of the protests that are taking place in France. Are they really justified?
The answer is: When they take away your pension, then you have all the right to exercise the right, and the right to protest, because that is what is legally valid and is considered according to choice.
“The law in France allows you to make demonstrations. Today the demonstrations are huge. At the end there were 3 million people, so more people lived in the streets than in May 1968, when a great chain of demonstrations was provoked”, commented the Chilean, who works as an ambassador in France.
“You can’t say those people are stupid and you can’t tell them to go home. And when he does not return home, the Minister of the Interior orders the police to use technical powers, which today are also condemned by Amnesty International”, he added.
“The art of maintaining order is completely illegal and in crisis of representation. In France the separation of Powers in Chile, as the rule of law”, he commented in Chilean.
He added that in France he was “Judiciary, Legislator and Executor.” But the Executive cannot come to the Legislature as to what to do. It doesn’t work like that, it can’t work like that.
“This is causing a very strong national crisis because people do not feel represented, protected or heard. All this has been decided to be centralized in the personality of Emmanuel Macron.
