FRANCE: The Constitutional Council approved French President Emmanuel Macron’s signature pension reform on Friday, allowing it to be quickly signed into law and put into effect.
The reform was the cause of weeks of widespread protests. In recent weeks, there have been numerous and occasionally violent protests in response to the legislation, which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The law will go into effect on September 1 as originally scheduled, according to Labour Minister Olivier Dussopt, who dismissed calls from unions to delay its promulgation in the face of strong public resistance.
When the Council’s decision was made public, demonstrators gathered in front of Paris City Hall and waved signs that read, “Climate of Anger” and “No End to the Strikes Until the Reform is Pulled.”
At the event in Paris, unionised train diver stated, “We just hope we’ll see a response like the one that followed the 49.3, that the deep anger of the people, workers and students, resurfaces, and that people get back out on the streets.”
Only ancillary measures intended to increase employment opportunities for older people were rejected by the Council on the grounds that they had no place in this legislation, with the government’s actions being in accordance with the constitution. The Council also authorised hiking the legal retirement age.
Such a result, in the eyes of Macron and his administration, would hopefully put an end to future union-led demonstrations, some of which have in the past descended into violence. Macron stated earlier this week that the nation must keep progressing, working, and overcoming the obstacles in our path. Both the opposition and staunch unions have threatened not to back down.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the radical left, declared that “the fight continues.” Separately, the Constitutional Council turned down the opposition’s request to hold a citizen referendum on the pension change.
Another referendum proposal has been put up by the opposition, and the Council will likely evaluate it in the first few days of May. Political analysts warn that the overwhelming opposition to the government’s reform may have longer-term effects, including a potential resurgence of the far right.
The leader of the far-right movement, Marine Le Pen, declared on Twitter that “the political fate of the pension reform is not sealed,” pushing people to support candidates who oppose it in the upcoming election in order to repeal it.
According to Macron, by the end of the decade, the French pension budget will be billions of euros in the red annually unless the French work longer. The trade unions contend that there are other ways to raise funds, such as by imposing higher taxes on the wealthy, but the pension system is a cornerstone of France’s beloved social protection policy.
While the retirement age of 62 has received a lot of attention, only 36% of French workers actually retire at that age, with another 36% retiring earlier since they must have paid into the system for at least 42 years in order to be eligible for a full pension.
According to OECD calculations based on 2020 data, that means the typical retirement age for a French worker who began working at the age of 22 was 64.5, just above the average for the European Union of 64.3.
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