France’s biggest union has warned President Emmanuel Macron that reforming pensions at a time of high inflation and economic woes would “set France on fire.”

In an interview with RTL radio on Thursday, Laurent Berger, the president of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT), said the French people “are in a very tense moment, with a lot of anxiety.”

“I tell the government and will also tell the president: To start pushing back the legal retirement age in a vertical and brutal way is to set the country on fire,” he warned.

Macron has already launched a long-planned summit designed to revive a political dialog with the representatives of civil society on hot topics, ranging from labor to climate and health care policy.

When he was running his re-election campaign in April, Macron said his main reform proposal was to lift the retirement age gradually to 65. During his first term, a more ambitious overhaul of the retirement system was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic following massive street protests. However, in the face of rising inflation, Paris has refrained from giving a clear timeline on the pension reform.

Macron’s administration is seeking to curb inflation through spending billions on an array of measures: from a gas price freeze to electricity price caps.

Last month, Macron said tough months were ahead as his administration braces for energy price hikes due to the war in Ukraine.

The 44-year-old president also called on the French public to accept new measures. However, unions have rejected his call for sacrifices, saying workers need higher pay to cope with rising inflation.

The French government also said the country could not maintain energy price caps to help households cope with soaring inflation forever.

France is less reliant than some neighbors on gas imports from Russia. But concerns about supply from Russia remain.

Pension reforms and unemployment benefit schemes are also in the works and could trigger street protests.

Macron now faces tough challenges, including persuading lawmakers to pass the 2023 budget.

Russia began its military operation in Ukraine on February 24, drawing a host of sanctions from the United States and its European allies against Moscow, despite repeated warnings by the Kremlin that such punitive measure will only prolong the war and will surely backfire.

Russia has almost cut its flow of natural gas to Europe, citing technical difficulties caused by the sanctions, leaving Europe to face a cold coming winter.

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