French President Emmanuel Macron has signed a pension reform law that sparked months of massive protests and strikes, foreign media reported on the 15th (local time).
According to AFP and The Guardian, President Macron officially signed the Pension Reform Act, raising the retirement age from the current 62 to 64, and finished the legal process. The law was published in the Official Gazette this morning and went into effect immediately.
It has been a day since the French Constitutional Council decided that the key content, the extension of the retirement age, was constitutional.
The constitutional committee admitted the day before that the provision did not violate French law. The opposition party’s proposal for a referendum was also rejected.
However, six ‘minor’ provisions, such as the obligatory CDI for senior citizens in companies over a certain size and the obligation to disclose the proportion of senior citizens, were judged to be unconstitutional.
President Macron, who is in his second and final term, has pushed ahead with pension reform, which is opposed by two-thirds of the people.
Macron’s government, predicting an annual pension deficit of 13.5 billion euros by 2030, argued that changes were needed to prevent fiscal depletion.
On the 16th of last month, President Macron invoked Article 49, Section 3 of the French Constitution, which allows the government to pass legislation without a vote when it was expected that it would not win a majority in the House of Representatives. The subsequent vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne was rejected by Parliament, and the Macron government gained momentum again.
However, the French people are still protesting against this.
Citizens gathered in front of the Paris City Hall and in various cities on the day the Constitutional Council decision was made and poured out their anger all night long. Some set fire to bicycles, electric scooters, and garbage, and police tried to disperse them by firing tear gas. According to the police, 112 people were arrested as of 10:30 p.m.
Labor unions are urging large-scale demonstrations on May 1, Labor Day.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.