Pension reform in France | The Constitutional Council validates the essentials of the project

(Paris) The unpopular pension reform and its flagship measure, the lowering of the retirement age to 64, were validated on Friday by the French Constitutional Council, to the chagrin of the opposition and the unions, determined to continue to fight this emblematic project of President Macron.

The nine “Sages” of the Council, guardian of the institutions, validated the main part of the text, censoring certain secondary aspects of the reform, and rejected a draft referendum requested by the left.

This decision, to which the executive and the unions had been suspended for several weeks, paves the way for the rapid promulgation of the law.

It is supposed to end a crisis that has lasted for more than three months. But meeting in the evening, the inter-union called on the president not to enact the reform.

“Tonight, there is no winner or loser,” tweeted Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. President Macron had for his part, even before the decision of the Council, invited the unions to meet him on Tuesday, with a view to restoring a dialogue that has not existed for three months.

But these gestures of appeasement could turn short.

The unions have said they will not meet the executive until 1^er May, Labor Day for which they call for “an exceptional day of mobilization”. And the oppositions immediately promised to continue the fight against this text.

Social blowout fears

“The struggle continues”, reacted the boss of the radical left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, while the leader of the far right Marine Le Pen considered that “the political fate of the pension reform is not sealed” .

Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel called on the executive to “not promulgate” this law.

“I fear the social eruption, I fear the overflow today”, he warned, while certain demonstrations were marked by violence, especially since the government’s forced passage, which used in March a constitutional provision (known as 49.3) to have the bill passed without a vote.

The president of the traditional right-wing party LR, Éric Ciotti, for his part called on “all political forces” to “accept” the decision of the Constitutional Council.

Gathered on the forecourt of the town hall in Paris, hundreds of opponents greeted this decision with boos.

“We will continue of course, we will amplify the demonstrations, with or without the inter-union. Time will play for us. Macron will be forced to back down, ”assured John Barlou, a 37-year-old unemployed man.

The police fear overflows. According to a note from the territorial intelligence services consulted by AFP, 131 actions are expected on Friday evening.

Entrenched behind riot barriers, the Constitutional Council itself was under guard. Any demonstration near its headquarters, in a wing of the Palais Royal, in the heart of Paris, is prohibited until Saturday morning.

The Comédie Française, a neighbor of the Council, has canceled its performances on Friday.

Blockages continued elsewhere in the country: disruption of traffic around Rouen (west), blockage of a food platform in the suburbs of Strasbourg (East), etc.

The breathlessness of the protest, which has shaken the country since mid-January, was evident for several days, in particular during the 12^e day of action Thursday.

But the anger remains strong even if the executive hopes, with this outcome, to resume the march of this second five-year term of Mr. Macron, seriously hampered from his first year.

The decisions of the Board are not subject to appeal.

France is one of the European countries with the lowest retirement age, but with very different systems.

The executive justifies its project by the need to respond to the financial deterioration of pension funds and the aging of the population, but opponents consider it “unfair”, especially for women and employees in difficult jobs.