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France is bracing for a new wave of strikes and transportation chaos Tuesday over a government plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 years of age by 2030, the latest battle over this type of reform, the Local France reported.

Earlier this month, labor unions mobilized more than a million people to strike and demonstrate, an opening salvo in the resistance against the plan, a “success” they hope to recreate Tuesday, Radio France International said. But over the weekend, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said there would be no negotiations on raising the retirement age, indicating a hardening of the government’s position.

The government says its proposals are necessary to keep the pension system solvent as France’s life expectancy has grown and birth rates have declined.

This plan, meanwhile, is not popular with voters, with a majority against it, opinion polls show. Unions and left-wing parties want big companies and wealthier households to contribute more to balance the pension budget.

Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT union, told France 24, “the people disagree strongly with the proposal, and that view is gaining ground,” adding it would be “a mistake” for the government to ignore the protests.

France has one of the lowest retirement ages in the Western world and French leaders of all parties agree that something needs to change. However, when reforms have been introduced in the past, strikes and protests have usually erupted, most notably in 2010 when tens of thousands of protesters flooded the streets against former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s reform plan, France 24 noted.

The bill will be debated in the National Assembly on Feb. 6.

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