By Michel Rose
PARIS (Reuters) -A viral French X account has tapped into rising generational tensions in France, where squeezed millennials rallying under the slogan "Nicolas foots the bill" say that better-off baby boomers should do more to fix the country's huge deficit.
With the government facing collapse over how to plug the euro zone's biggest deficit, younger workers are increasingly accusing the boomer generation, those born between 1945 and 1964, of saddling France with unsustainable debt.
The creator of the "NicolasQuiPaie" X account, which has drawn over 74,000 followers, told Reuters he launched the movement to defend his generation, arguing politicians tend to cater to pensioners who vote more reliably.
"They have so much voting power that no effort is ever demanded of them. So politicians keep squeezing workers," he said in a written interview, asking to remain anonymous to protect his career.
French pensioners retire early, and their generous pensions have risen with inflation, unlike wages, helping to shield them from cost-of-living crises. As they live longer, they are straining a post-war pension system that is struggling to keep pace with modern demographics. Meanwhile, their once-affordable homes are increasingly inaccessible for first-time buyers.
On social media, the hashtag #NicolasQuiPaie has gone viral, with thousands identifying with "Nicolas," a fictional millennial - people born in the 1980s and 90s - whose taxes they say disproportionately fund France's generous welfare state.
While the left has largely dismissed #NicolasQuiPaie, politicians from the right and far right have sought to court the movement, hoping to marshal the grassroots anger at a time when every vote counts in France's deeply polarised parliament.
"There's a form of hypocrisy because those who want to take advantage of the movement are those who have constantly defended pensioners," Maxime Sbaihi, a demographics expert, told Reuters, adding that people over 50 now account for a majority of voters.
A self-styled libertarian and "minarchist," a proponent of minimal state intervention, the creator of the X account told Reuters he comes from a middle-class background.
His memes often show a burned-out, 30-year-old Nicolas in a work shirt paying to sustain the lifestyle of 70-year-old "Bernard and Chantal" sipping cocktails on a chaise longue. He says clashes with older users have been "very tense."
"Even when you raise the issue of pension-funding calmly and factually, there's a wave of hatred toward young people," he said, adding he had received insults like "slacker" or replies such as "do you want to euthanasia us?"
His portrayal of "Nicolas" also funding a fictional "Karmic" - a typically North African name - has sparked accusations of xenophobia and far-right leanings, which he denied.
He says the movement has no formal structure, doesn't feel represented by any existing party, but hopes to exert pressure on governments and influence parties ahead of elections.
"It's up to them to get off the beaten track and bring concrete solutions to the economic and security problems we're going through," he said.
NON-PARTISAN, BUT POLITICALLY COURTED
Some older French rejected being blamed for France's woes.
"We don't have a boomer problem, we have a budget problem," said Patrick Sorel, 67, as he walked in Paris with his baguette under his arm. "We paid for Nicolas' education and Nicolas' studies. Politicians need the courage to ask everyone to contribute."
Yet some politicians - including several boomers high up in the government - have shown a degree of sympathy for the concerns of "Nicolas".
Conservative Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said "there'll be a revolt" if employed people like "Nicolas" are the only ones asked to contribute to cutting the deficit, while centrist Prime Minister François Bayrou, who looks certain to lose his job in a parliamentary confidence vote on September 8, recently criticised "boomers who think everything is fine".
According to an Elabe opinion poll published on Thursday, a majority of the under-35 agree with Bayrou, while 84% of the over-50 reject this view.
Bayrou, 74, had proposed not indexing pensions to inflation in next year's budget to help reduce the deficit, prompting an outcry across party lines.
Economists say millennials have a point.
Sbaihi said that while generational inequality is widespread in developed countries, it's especially stark in France.
The pension system relies on intergenerational transfers, meaning today's workers don't save for their own pension but fund retirees directly via mandatory levies on their payslips. With longer lifespans, millennials now support an unprecedentedly large cohort of ageing boomers.
"No country has ever treated pensioners better than today's France," Sbaihi said. "The baby-boom generation lived through a golden age, but doesn't quite grasp the impact of its demographic weight."
(Additional reporting by Leigh Thomas; writing by Michel Rose; editing by Gabriel Stargardter and Mark Heinrich)
