France is experiencing a period of disorder because of the strike that took place on the streets all over the country. The reason for the rebellion of the citizens of France is the new retirement reforms that obviously were not fulfilling their expectations since this topic comes to question. Thousands of workers from both private and public sectors left their job positions and took over the streets to protest against the reform that obviously was not set to benefit them in any way.

This act of rebellion has interrupted the normal course of the country’s everyday life, even 50 per cent of the trains were affected, and the students stayed at home since the schools and universities were also closed for the day, many flights were cancelled and the normal course of the day was significantly disturbed by the protest that took 24 hours.

In France there is a current retirement rule according to which, people from France, irrespectively of the gender could retire at the age of 60, provided that they had been continuously paying social contribution for 40.5 years even though they are not entitled to full pension until the age of 65. However, the government had given a proposition to increase the retirement age from the current 60 to 62 which is precisely the reason why the citizens of France have been fiercely protesting throughout the 24 hours. Apparently, they feel fine with the current retirement law as it is and they do not want to think about changes at all.

However, the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy claims that this reform is essential for the country and it has to be processed in full since the ageing of the population in France is a serious problem he, as the first authority of the country needs to cope with. According to the new reform, people will have the right to retire at the age of 62, provided that they pay social contributions for 41.5 years and they will be entitled to receive their pension fund in full amount at the age of 67 and it is the only way the system of the country could function in the right way according to the first man of France.

There have been surveys on whether the public supports or judges the strikers. Amazing two thirds of the surveyed have answered that they support the protest in full, however 65 per cent of them do not have high hopes and think that even though the strikers are right, they will not do much in changing the already made decision by the authorities of France.

According to the current law, France is far below the European average since age of retirement comes to question. It is the only country in Europe whose retirement range for both men and women is 60 years old. Second comes the United Kingdom where the retirement age is 65 for men and 60 for women, in Germany and Netherlands is 65 for both men and women and in Greece is the highest: 65 for men and 62 for women even though there are many cases when people retire earlier than that.