When the National Pension Service Welcomed BlackRock, Paris Chased Away a Flock of Crows
Source
Why this was selected
It meets all three criteria: theoretical sophistication, alignment with reality, and on-the-ground concreteness. Tracing BlackRock's campaign to capture the French national pension system from the investigative media Mediapart's exposé, ATTAC protests, and the railway union's occupation of the Paris office down to the ground level, it clearly derives the ideology of the financial oligarchy through Larry Fink's annual letter ('Only companies make everything possible'). It is not mere criticism but an analysis of mechanisms — how the pension 'crisis' discourse is produced as a precondition for market expansion, and how revolving-door personnel translate into policy decision-making power. It also includes details little known to South Korean readers: the European Commission advisory contract (2020), the Group of 30 report (co-signed by Hildebrand), and the successful lobbying for the Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP), providing on-the-ground information hard to connect through basic searches. Its timeliness is also optimal, coinciding with the signing of the MOU for a strategic partnership between the National Pension Service and BlackRock in March 2026.
Context
On March 23, 2026, the National Pension Service signed a comprehensive strategic partnership covering all asset classes with BlackRock. Domestic media generally welcomed it. This article provides the opposite context: how BlackRock organized the pension 'crisis' discourse in France and pushed for pension capitalization through the Macron government, and the 2.5-month strike, ATTAC protests, and union office occupation that opposed it. It becomes clearer when read as a domestic connection case of the Big3 asset management oligarchy discussion covered in the third installment of this series, 'Financial Capital and Financial Oligarchy 2026'.