The president’s reform sparked protests.
(Photo: AP)
Paris French President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial pension reform has cleared the final hurdle: the country’s Constitutional Council approved all the key points of the law on Friday, including gradually raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. The body rejected the request of the left-wing opposition to hold a referendum on the reform.
Macron’s Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said that with the Constitutional Council’s decision, the law had “arrived at the end of its democratic path”. At the same time, she avoided any semblance of triumph: “Tonight there will be neither winners nor vanquished.”
A few hours before the decision of the Constitutional Council, Macron had invited the unions to a dialogue in the Élysée Palace next Tuesday. In the past few days, the President had said that he wanted to continue his reform course: “The country must continue to move forward, work and face the challenges that await us.”
According to surveys, the French reject raising the retirement age by a clear majority. Macron’s already weak popularity ratings have recently fallen to a low. On the twelve national days of protest so far, more than a million people have taken to the streets at times. Strikes on the railways, garbage disposal and in the education system partially paralyzed public life.
Recently, however, participation in the demonstrations and strikes had decreased. The unions, however, seem determined to continue the fight. They rejected the president’s offer for talks on Tuesday – and want to mobilize against the reform again on May 1st.
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According to the reform law, from 2030 the French should not retire until the age of 64. To this end, the statutory retirement age of currently 62 years is to be gradually raised from this autumn. The government wants to abolish generous early retirement schemes for certain occupational groups.
However, particularly long-term employment histories should be taken into account: Anyone who has at least 43 years of contributions can, under certain circumstances, retire earlier without deductions. In addition, the minimum pension is to be increased by EUR 100 to around EUR 1,200 per month.
On Thursday, the unions organized the twelfth national day of protest.
(Photo: dpa)
Not only did the content of the reform meet with massive resistance, but also the way in which Macron pushed it through. The law threatened to fail in the National Assembly, where the president’s center-aligned alliance has not had its own majority since the June 2022 parliamentary elections. So Macron took advantage of a government privilege enshrined in the constitution to pass the law without parliamentary approval. The opposition then filed a vote of no confidence in the government, which narrowly failed.
Constitutional Council calls for small changes
However, the Constitutional Council saw no reason to fundamentally overturn the law. The panel called for only minor changes. Six points of the reform were objected to, such as a mandatory list of older employees for larger companies and a special contract for older employees.
Since the founding of France’s Fifth Republic in 1958, the Constitutional Council has overturned only 17 laws outright, and none of them dealt with issues as important as pension reform. The nine members of the Constitutional Council are appointed by the President and the Speakers of the National Assembly and Senate, the upper house of Parliament.
Critics accuse the Constitutional Council of a lack of political independence. The spokesman for the left alliance, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, wrote on Twitter: “The decision of the Constitutional Council shows that it pays more attention to the needs of the presidential monarchy than to those of the sovereign people.”
Request for a referendum rejected
The Constitutional Council did not allow a referendum initiated by the left-wing opposition parties against the reform. In any case, the initiative would only have been the beginning of a long road to a possible referendum – which, even if there was a majority against the reform, would not necessarily lead to the repeal of the pension law.
>> Also read here: Marine Le Pen benefits from dispute over pension reform
In any case, it is not the left-wing alliance of La France Insoumise (Indomitable France), Greens and Socialists, which is close to the trade unions, that is considered to be the political beneficiary of the pension dispute, but Marine Le Pen’s right-wing Rassemblement National (RN) party the Macron successor should she run in the next presidential election in 2027.
The leader of the RN spoke out immediately after the announcement of the decision of the Constitutional Council. Although this ended the “process in the institutions,” said Le Pen. “But the fate of the pension reform is not sealed.” The people have the final decision – who can choose an alternative that takes on this “useless and unfair reform”. become.
More: How France benefits from Macron’s reforms – and overtakes Germany