French court approves contentious plans to raise country’s pension age

Contentious plans to raise the pension age in France have been approved by the country’s highest constitutional court.

France’s Constitutional Council has ruled in favour of the government’s reforms, which will see the pension age increase from 62 to 64.

The plans sparked widespread protests after president Emmanuel Macron’s government invoked Article 49.3 to push the changes through without a vote by MPs last month.

France’s state retirement age is 62 – much lower than many of its European neighbours. In the UK it is 66, Germany and Italy 67, and Spain 65.

Protesters clashed with police shortly after the court’s decision was announced, with teargas used on a group of demonstrators in Lyon, while bikes were also set on fire in the French capital, Paris.

Mr Macron, who has described the changes as a “necessity” to salvage France’s pensions system, will now sign the reform bill into law within the coming days.

The law will take effect at the beginning of September, according to France’s labour minister. However, the country’s labour unions have urged Mr Macron not to sign the bill.

One of France’s largest unions, the CGT, has said leaders will no longer engage in talks with the president if he signs off on the pension reforms.

It comes after nearly 400,000 protesters took to the streets across France on Thursday in a final push in protest at the proposals.

The country has faced weeks of demonstrations and at times the protests have turned violent, with demonstrators clashing with police.

Protesters stormed the headquarter of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) – which also represents brands including Christian Dior, Fendi and Givenchy – on Thursday.

Demonstrations also took place in towns and cities across the country – including in Rennes where a Mercedes was set on fire.

What is the retirement age in France – and how is it changing?

France’s state retirement age is 62 – much lower than many of its European neighbours.

French workers can receive a state pension from the age of 62, but it will be less if that person has not made the required number of contributions.

Aged 67, they are entitled to the full state pension regardless of their contributions.

Mr Macron’s changes will see the age that workers can receive a state pension increase to 64.

This will be done gradually by three months a year from September 2023 until September 2030.

The number of years someone will have to make contributions to get the full state pension will increase from 42 to 43 in 2027.

End of the road for those hoping to block pension reforms

Lisa Holland

Communities correspondent

@LisaatSky

For those who have fought long and hard, and been involved in demonstrations on a weekly basis, and for those who have been on strike and gone without pay, this is a bitterly disappointing decision by France’s Constitutional Council.

It is the end of the road. It is a line in the sand from a legal perspective.

President Macron may have seen off the legal crisis though, but he still has a political crisis because there are many, many angry people who say that their voice was not heard and that the French government did not listen to them.

They are also disappointed because not only is the pension age going to be increased from 62 to 64, but they won’t be getting a referendum, which they’d also called for so that they could have a say and that they could have a vote.

President Macron says there is no winner or loser, but those involved in the strike action at a protest where I am now in central Paris say they will continue to strike and that their determination to stop this doesn’t end now.

And that means that France is the loser because this will continue to be a city dogged by demonstrations, protests, violence potentially and crippled by strikes.

But French workers have reacted with fury to the proposals, with unions sharing a great a pride in France’s pensions system.

There is also anger among those approaching pension age, who say the changes will scupper their plans to retire.

What is Macron’s argument?

France’s generous welfare state has long weighed heavily on the economy and workforce.

In the third quarter of 2022, national debt stood at 113.4% of GDP – more than in the UK (100.2%), Germany (66.6%), and similar to struggling economies like Spain (115.6%) and Portugal (120.1%).

It also means the workforce is shrinking. There are only 1.7 workers for every pensioner in France, down from 2.1 in 2000.

“This is Macron’s flagship policy,” David S Bell, emeritus professor of French government and politics at the University of Leeds, told Sky News.

“He wants to push it through before he steps down at the end of this term.

“But the problem isn’t an immediate crisis – it’s a future burden based on economic projections. It’s the opposite to the way politics works, which is to focus on the immediate, headline-grabbing issues.

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“His argument is that unless these reforms are made, and the French working life is made longer, the country won’t be able to afford it.”

Addressing strikes on French TV, Mr Macron argued: “This reform isn’t a luxury, it’s not a pleasure, it’s a necessity. The longer we wait, the more [the deficit] will deteriorate.”

What happens now?

France’s Constitutional Council, the highest constitutional court in the land, has now given Mr Macron’s government the go-ahead to push forward with the plans.

The council is made up of nine people – three appointed by the president, three by the head of the National Assembly (lower house of parliament), and three by the head of the Senate (upper house of parliament).

Largely former lawyers, business people, senior civil servants and ex-politicians, they oversee the final stage of approving any new law – and consider whether it adheres to the constitution.

There is one final mechanism unions can use to stop the bill going through – a referendum – but for this they would have to get the approval of both the council and 10% of voters within the next nine months.

It has not been successfully used since it was introduced in 2015.

The government hopes the approval of the plans will bring an end to nationwide protests. But there is no guarantee the disruption will end.