In France, President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial pension reform plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 has been approved by the Constitutional Council on Friday. The decision comes after nearly three months of protests across the country.
The nine-member council validated the government’s actions as being in line with the constitution and that the retirement age should be raised, paving the way for the bill to be promulgated in the coming days. However, six minor proposals were rejected, including forcing large companies to publish data regarding how many employees above 55 were working for them and creating a special contract for older workers.
The council also rejected a proposal from leftist parties to organise a referendum on the pension reform.
The decision has set the stage for another round of protests from the opposition as well as the common citizens. The French hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon has vowed to continue the fight against Macron’s reform plan, despite the court’s decision.
Over 10,000 people are anticipated to gather in Paris on Friday night to protest the decision, and concerns have been raised about left-wing radicals attempting to vandalize the streets and engage in violent clashes. At the height of the protests, over 1.3 million had taken to the streets.
In a last-ditch attempt, French trade unions released a joint statement urging Macron not to sign the legislation.
The Macron government has argued that extending the pension age will prevent the French service system from collapsing under the weight of deficits. Workers in France tend to retire much earlier than their European Union counterparts, which results in the French exchequer having to foot a bigger pension bill than most countries in the bloc.
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