Everyone on the ping list in 06 (!) knew this was coming, Sarko was not willing to cater to the Union demands, and he ran on a platform that the retirement age had to be raised.
My one complaint would be Sarko should have planned ahead for the fuel crisis as Unions in Europe are more than willing to riot/blockade/burn if they will lose a single Franc.opps..Euro..in subsidies.
Very good point. I thought that Sarko would be much more successful in implementing his agenda, much quicker, and that would diffuse some of their power.
The strange thing is that the rioters , union thugs and all are a small percentage of the population, and the majority of the French agree with his plans to raise the retirement age.