Demonstrators hold a placard with the flag of the French labor union CGT and a portrait of French President Emmanuel Macron during a demonstration during a nationwide strike and protest against the French government’s pension reform on April 13, 2023 in Paris, France. Photo Credit: Reuters
France’s Constitutional Council on Friday approved an unpopular plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 in a victory for President Emmanuel Macron after months. mass protests that have damaged his leadership,
The decision disappointed or angered critics of the pension plan. Hundreds of union workers and others gathered peacefully in Paris on Friday evening before some groups broke away to march to the historic Bastille Plaza and beyond, setting trash cans and scooters on fire as police fired tear gas or dispersed them. Pushed back
Explained | Why is France witnessing widespread protests over Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms?
Unions and Mr Macron’s political opponents vowed to keep up the pressure on the government to withdraw the bill, and activists threatened fresh protests that broke out on Saturday.
Mr Macron’s office said he would legislate in the coming days, and has said he wants to implement it by the end of the year. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Friday’s decision “marks the end of this institutional and democratic path of reform,” adding that there were “no winners” in the nationwide standoff and France’s worst social unrest in years.
The council rejected some of the measures in the pensions bill, but Mr Macron’s plan and the target of protesters’ anger were higher ages. The government argued that the pension system needed reform to keep up as the population aged; Opponents instead propose raising taxes on the wealthy or employers, saying the changes threaten the hard-won social safety net.
In a separate but related decision, the council rejected a request by left-wing MPs to allow a possible referendum to set 62 as the maximum official retirement age. The council will rule on a second similar request next month.
Karl Pfeiffer, a 62-year-old retiree protesting outside City Hall, warned that the Constitutional Council’s decision would not end tensions.
Council members “are irresponsible, because the anger that follows immediately in the country is their fault,” he said.
Bartender Lina Cayo, 22, said she was disappointed but not surprised by the decision.
“We have been protesting for so many weeks and the government did not listen to us,” she said. “The workers who have gone on strike since January or are protesting against the law” are “fighting for their rights, but nothing changes”.
As tensions mounted hours before the decision, Mr. Macron invited labor unions to meet with him regardless of the Constitutional Council’s decision on Tuesday, his office said. Unions rejected Mr Macron’s invitation, noting that he had rejected their previous offers to meet, and called for massive new protests on May 1, International Workers’ Rights Day.
Unions have been organizing 12 nationwide protests since January and play a key role in trying to tone down excessive reactions by protesters. Violence by pockets of far-left radicals marked the otherwise peaceful nationwide marches.
The plan to raise the retirement age was meant to be a showcase measure in Macron’s second term.
The Council’s decision ends months of tumultuous debate in Parliament and excitement in the streets.
Spontaneous demonstrations took place around France ahead of the decision of the nine-member council. Opponents of pension reform blocked entry points to some cities, including Rouen in the west and Marseille in the south, causing traffic to slow or stop.
The prime minister was interrupted by a group of people while walking into a supermarket outside Paris, chanting “we don’t want this,” referring to the way lawmakers undermined the vote to push through pension reform.
The government’s decision to obtain a parliamentary vote in March by using special constitutional powers only fueled the measure’s opponents as well as their determination. Another group was waiting for Bourne in the parking lot.
Union leaders have said the Constitutional Council’s decisions will be respected, but have vowed to continue protesting in an effort to get Macron to withdraw the measure.
The leader of the liberal CFDT, Laurent Berger, warned that “there will be consequences.”
Hoping to uphold the decision, unions and some protesters recalled parallels with a controversial 2006 measure about work contracts for youth, which sent students into the streets to join unions. That law was pushed through parliament without a vote and given the green light by the Constitutional Council—only to be scrapped later to bring peace to the country.
Far-right MP Marine Le Pen described the pension reform as “cruel and unjust”. In a statement, she said the reform, once implemented, would “mark a definitive break between the French people and Emmanuel Macron.”
Polls have consistently shown that a majority of French citizens are opposed to working two more years before being able to receive pension benefits. Along with other changes to the system, the law also requires people to work 43 years to receive the full pension.