French President Emmanuel Macron has been criticized by trade unions and the left for pushing through a pension reform that raises the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64, just hours after it was approved by the Constitutional Council.
Although he had 15 days to release the text, if most of it was legally confirmed, as happened, the French President did not wait and did so on Friday evening (around 4:00 local time), although he only released this morning in the Official Gazette of the Republic.
Thus, the diploma, which is being gradually extended to those born since 1961, will be ready to take effect from September next year.
With tensions remaining on the streets – 150 arrests were made in Paris on Friday night and riots erupted in Rennes – Macron’s stance has infuriated unions and left-wing parties, the main driving forces behind the protests and strikes organized around the world over the past three months against the backdrop of retirement age changes.
“Macron wanted to intimidate the whole of France by stealing two years of freedom from all workers overnight. It’s a pointless gesture of arrogance. The fight to repeal the law is now a matter of dignity,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the French left, tweeted.
The majority union, CFDT, called for the protests to continue, arguing that “there is a lot of discontent and that discontent must be expressed.” The organization, which is leading the mobilization along with the CGT, declined Macron’s invitation to the Élysée Palace the following Tuesday.
The president’s main far-right opponent, Marine Le Pen, drew attention by posting a tweet this morning about the fourth anniversary of the Notre Dame fire, rather than about Macron’s exposure.
The Constitutional Council approved most of the pension reform, but repealed six articles, especially two concerning the encouragement of hiring workers over 55 in large companies.
According to the Constitutional Council, these articles have no place in the law on the financing of social security.
The Constitutional Observer also rejected a request to put the pension reform in a citizen-sponsored referendum.
To overcome the uncertainty in the parliamentary vote, Macron resorted to an article in the Constitution that allows the adoption of a pension law without putting it to a vote in the National Assembly.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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