On Friday, the Constitutional Council validated the most controversial aspect of President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform bill, namely, the raising of the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
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The Council, however, invalidated six articles of the law, especially two relating to the promotion of the recruitment of workers over 55 years of age in large companies, because it considered that these articles did not take place in a law on the financing of social security.
The Council also rejected the request for a referendum on pension reform. This decision paves the way for Macron, who intends to enact the law with the new changes over the weekend.
“The Constitutional Council ruling shows that this institution is more attentive to the needs of the presidential monarchy than to those of a sovereign people,” left-wing legislator Jean-Luc Melenchon stressed.
The Council’s deliberation lasted 16 hours. About a thousand people waited for its result in front of the headquarters of this institution in Paris.
“I find it hard to believe that the members of the Constitutional Court do not consider three months of popular struggle,” trade union leader Julien Troccaz lamented.
Since January, massive protests against the pension reform bill have occurred almost weekly. Polls indicate that about 2 out of 3 citizens are against raising the minimum retirement age.
On Thursday, some 380,000 citizens took to the streets to demand that the Constitutional Council not approve the pension reform.
Ahead of this initiative, dozens of riot police were deployed around the perimeter of the Council, where authorities have banned protests since early Saturday.