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

Published

2 years ago

April 14, 2023

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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.

“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.

World

Putin wasn’t at the White House, but his influence was – the moments which reveal his hold over Trump

Published

58 mins ago

August 19, 2025

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Putin wasn't at the White House, but his influence was - the moments which reveal his hold over Trump

Vladimir Putin wasn’t at the White House but his influence clearly was. At times, it dominated the room.

There were three key moments that revealed the Russian president‘s current hold over Donald Trump.

The first was in the Oval Office. Sitting alongside Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the US president told reporters: “I don’t think you need a ceasefire.”

Ukraine talks latest: Zelenskyy ‘ready to meet’ Putin after Trump summit

It was a stunning illustration of Mr Trump’s about-face in his approach to peace. For the past six months, a ceasefire has been his priority, but after meeting Mr Putin in Alaska, suddenly it’s not.

Confirmation that he now views the war through Moscow’s eyes.

The second was the format itself, with Mr Trump reverting to his favoured ask-what-you-like open-ended Q&A.

In Alaska, Mr Putin wasn’t made to take any questions – most likely, because he didn’t want to. But here, Mr Zelenskyy didn’t have a choice. He was subjected to a barrage of them to see if he’d learnt his lesson from last time.

It was a further demonstration of the special status Mr Trump seems to afford to Mr Putin.

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The third was their phone call. Initially, President Trump said he’d speak to the Kremlin leader after his meeting with European leaders. But it turned out to be during it.

A face-to-face meeting with seven leaders was interrupted for a phone call with one – as if Mr Trump had to check first with Mr Putin, before continuing his discussions.

We still don’t know the full details of the peace proposal that’s being drawn up, but all this strongly suggests that it’s one sketched out by Russia. The White House is providing the paper, but the Kremlin is holding the pen.

For Moscow, the aim now is to keep Mr Trump on their path to peace, which is settlement first, ceasefire later.

It believes that’s the best way of securing its goals, because it has more leverage so long as the fighting continues.

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But Mr Putin will be wary that Mr Trump is pliable and can easily change his mind, depending on the last person he spoke to.

So to ensure that his sympathies aren’t swayed, and its red lines remain intact, Russia will be straining to keep its voice heard.

On Monday, for example, the Russian foreign ministry was quick to condemn recent comments from the UK government that it would be ready to send troops to help enforce any ceasefire.

It described the idea as “provocative” and “predatory”.

Moscow is trying to drown out European concerns by portraying itself as the party that wants peace the most, and Kyiv (and Europe) as the obstacle.

But while Mr Zelenskyy has agreed to a trilateral meeting, the Kremlin has not. After the phone call between Mr Putin and Mr Trump, it said the leaders discussed “raising the level of representatives” in the talks between Russia and Ukraine. No confirmation to what level.

World

Trump is playing both sides – but has taken peace talks a distance not seen since the war began

Published

6 hours ago

August 19, 2025

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Trump is playing both sides - but has taken peace talks a distance not seen since the war began

Talks between Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders have taken place at the White House, aimed at finding an end to the war in Ukraine.

On the agenda were US security guarantees, whether a ceasefire is required, and a potential summit between the Ukrainian president and Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskyy ready to meet Putin – follow latest

Here’s what three of our correspondents made of it all.

For Trump

For Mr Trump, the challenge to remain seen as the deal-broker is to maintain “forward momentum, through devilish detail,” Sky News’ US correspondent James Matthews says.

The US president called the Washington summit a “very good early step”, but that’s all it was, Matthews says.

Despite cordiality with Mr Zelenskyy and promising talk of a US role in security guarantees for Ukraine and discussions for meetings to come. Matthews says the obstacles remain.

“Trump has taken peace discussions to a distance not travelled since the start of the war, but it is a road navigated by a president playing both sides who have changed his mind on key priorities.”

For Putin

As for Russia, Sky News’ Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett says the aim is to keep Trump on its preferred path towards peace – a deal first, a ceasefire later.

“Moscow believes that’s the best way of securing all of its goals,” Bennett says.

But Ukraine and Europe want things the other way round, and Moscow “will be wary that Trump can be easily persuaded by the last person he spoke to”.

And so, Russia will be “trying to keep themselves heard” and “cast Kyiv as the problem, as they won’t agree to a peace deal on the Kremlin’s terms”.

For the UK and Europe

Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates says, for Sir Keir Starmer and Europe, the biggest success of the Washington summit was the US promise of security guarantees for Ukraine.

He adds that the “hard work starts now to actually try to figure out what these guarantees amount to”.

Sir Keir said if Vladimir Putin breaches a future peace deal, there would have to be consequences, but Coates said potentially “insoluble” issues stand in the way.

“At what point do those breaches invoke a military response, whether US guarantees would be enough to encourage European involvement in Ukraine, and whether or not you could see the UK and Europe going to war with Russia to protect Ukraine?”

Coates says “there may never be an answer that satisfies everyone involved”.

World

Hamas ‘agrees to ceasefire-hostage deal’ with Israel, senior official says

Published

19 hours ago

August 18, 2025

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Hamas 'agrees to ceasefire-hostage deal' with Israel, senior official says

Hamas has agreed to a ceasefire-hostage deal with Israel, according to a senior official.

Egyptian and Qatari mediators have been holding talks with Hamas in their latest effort to broker a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza.

The Hamas official did not provide further details of the agreement or what had been accepted.

Hamas has responded positively to such deals in the past, while proposing amendments which have proved unacceptable to Israel.

Sky’s International Correspondent Diana Magnay in Jerusalem said the agreement appears to be similar to the plan put forward by Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, for a 60-day ceasefire deal.

“What we understand from Hamas, in relation to this deal, is that it would be within the 60-day ceasefire framework, but it would be a release of prisoners and detainees in two parts.

“What we understand from Arab channels is that Hamas agreed to it without major alterations,” she said.

An Egyptian official source told Reuters that, during the ceasefire, there would be an exchange of Palestinian prisoners in return for the release of half of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

There has been no word from Israel about the proposed ceasefire.

Diana Magnay said it is clear that mediators from Egypt and Qatar, potentially along with Hamas, felt under pressure because of Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to push further into Gaza City, “and that’s why you’ve had mediators over the weekend in Cairo trying to get some kind of plan on the table.”

“So the big question is, will Benjamin Netanyahu agree to this? We shall have to see whether it is his intention at any point to agree to a ceasefire or whether this is just too late now and he will use the opportunity to push on in Gaza,” she added.

Earlier on Monday, US President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on peace talks.

“We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” he posted on his Truth Social site.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said mediators had been “exerting extensive efforts” to revive a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire, during which hostages would be released and the sides would negotiate a lasting cessation of violence.

Health authorities in Gaza said the Palestinian death toll from 22 months of war has passed 62,000.

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