French President Nicolas Sarkozy may have defeated the protesters who took to the streets against his controversial pension reforms, but his victory has likely cost him reelection in 2012, proving yet again that you can win the battle but lose the war. The reform bill, approved by the Senate on October 22, will have to be passed by a panel consisting of members of both houses of parliament before being put to a final vote on either Tuesday or Wednesday. If passed, the legislation will raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 for both men and women, and workers will now be eligible to receive their full pension at 67 instead of 65. There is little standing in the way of the bill becoming law. All the same, unions have announced new strikes on October 26 and November 6. But France has been gripped by protests for weeks now, and the exhausted public may be reluctant to support a fresh wave of unrest. The success of Sarkozy`s pension package comes as no surprise, given the man`s high ambitions, his tenacity and experience. And standing your ground in the face of mob pressure is Politics 101. But Sarkozy will not escape the side effects of the harsh medicine he has administered to his country: his chances of winning reelection in 2012 are now severely diminished. Sarkozy deserves credit for doing his part in the effort to pare back the European welfare state to a manageable size. The promises of the welfare state -- generous unemployment benefits, free education and healthcare, etc. -- are becoming increasingly hard to keep. A competent accountant could have told the French, even before Sarkozy took office, that the growing number of people applying for social benefits in France was putting its welfare system at risk. France`s state pension fund is currently estimated at 32 billion euros, or 1.7% of the nation`s GDP. Without any changes, it would have doubled to 3% by 2020 -- a burden too heavy for any government to bear. Sarkozy`s only choice was to raise the retirement age. However, what Sarkozy did is less important than how he did it. The French president went ahead with his highly unpopular reforms without holding any formal talks with the unions or the opposition, and he is now facing the consequences: nationwide strikes and plummeting approval ratings. This is the first lesson that other European politicians should take away from France`s adventure in pension reforms. In Russia, there are no official plans to raise the retirement age, but there are voices warning that it will be necessary at some point. In the spring of 2007, Sarkozy himself said that the right to retire at the age 60 should be preserved. This is exactly what you would expect to hear from a presidential candidate on the campaign trail. It`s indecent to talk about pension reform in Russia, where pensions are nowhere near the European average standard. The average pension in the EU currently stands at 60% of salary. Greece offers the highest percentage (95.7%), followed by Luxembourg (88.3%), the Netherlands (81.9%), Spain (81.2%), Denmark (79.8%), Italy (67.9%), France (51.2%) and Germany (39.9%). The United Kingdom is at the bottom of this list, with a mere 30.8%. The British government has already launched its own pension reforms, announcing plans to raise the retirement age to 65 for both men and women by the year 2020, and up to 68 by 2046, while also raising weekly pension payments to 140 pounds, up from the current 98 pounds. This adds up to 7,280 pounds per year for a single retiree and 14,560 for a married couple. Britain`s so-called Green Book, detailing the proposed pension reforms, is due out next month. In other EU countries, such as Luxembourg, the Netherlands or Sweden, retirees will fare even better. Several EU countries are going the way of France to ease the burden on their overstretched pension budgets, and many others are likely to follow suit. In Germany, for instance, pension reforms involve raising the retirement age from the current 65 to 67 by the year 2029. In Spain, where every third resident will be over 65 by 2049, the retirement age will be raised from 65 to 67 as early as 2013. The Dutch will do the same by 2025. In Greece, the retirement age, now at 65 for men and 62 for women, will be 65 for everyone by 2013. There is simply no other choice for these cash-strapped countries. However, in an effort to stave off fiscal disaster, many are ignoring the implications of these reforms for young people, who will now have to wait several years longer for jobs to open up. When it comes to maintaining social stability, it appears there`s no silver bullet.