First modification:
In its long-awaited ruling, the French constitutional court endorsed the key elements of the controversial reform, promoted by President Emmanuel Macron. The body considered that the president proceeded in accordance with the Magna Carta and ratified the increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64 years, while rejecting minor aspects of the plan. Opposition leaders warned that the protests will continue.
Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform received a key boost. France’s Constitutional Council endorsed the main aspects of the controversial plan, which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64. With this, the measure can be enacted in the coming days.
In its ruling, the court affirmed that the president acted in line with the constitution -by approving the project by decree after its approval in the Senate and bypassing the debate in the National Assembly-, at the same time that he annulled six minor measures, considered not essential to this legislation.
At the same time, the ‘wise men’ – as the council members are known – rejected an opposition proposal to organize a citizen referendum on the reform. A second presentation on a possible referendum will be reviewed in early May.
Since before the decision was known, dozens of riot police have been deployed at the entrance to the Council, with the building fenced off from potential demonstrations. Minutes after the announcement, groups of protesters began gathering outside the Paris City Hall and protests are expected overnight.
The mobilizations against the unpopular reform promise to continue, as anticipated by one of the opposition leaders, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who said that “the fight continues.” The leader of the left bloc La Francia Insumisa considered that the Council’s decision “shows that it is more attentive to the needs of the presidential monarchy than to those of the sovereign people.”
For her part, the leader of the far-right National Association, Marine Le Pen tweeted that “the decision of the constitutional court may close the institutional sequence, but the political fate of the pension reform is not sealed.” “The people always have the last word, it is the right of the people to prepare for the change of power that will be the result of this unnecessary and unfair reform,” she completed.
With AFP and Reuters
News in development
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