Macron signs contested French pension bill into law

The government’s official newspaper said Saturday that French President Emmanuel Macron approved a bill to raise the state pension age, which provoked huge demonstrations.

After months of protests over the main pension-age rise, which the administration rammed through parliament without a vote, the law was proclaimed.

The Constitutional Council’s decision to raise the state pension age to 64 from 62 sparked protests.

On Friday evening, Parisians marched and burned trash bins, while Rennes residents set fire to a police station entrance.

Despite the Constitutional Council’s approval, trade unions urged employees to march on Labour Day on May 1.
The pension modifications, which the president claims are necessary to prevent billions of euros in deficit by the end of the decade, are his signature reform.

“Never give up, that’s my motto,” he remarked on Friday before the Constitutional Council verdict, visiting Notre-Dame on the anniversary of the fire that destroyed the Paris cathedral.

The new law will take effect Sept. 1.

LFI lawmaker Francois Ruffin tweeted that the administration announced the pension reform “like thieves in the night”.

After Friday’s Constitutional Council rejection, opposition parties have proposed another citizens’ referendum on the reform.

Trade unions think France’s pension system, a cornerstone of its social security policy, can be funded by taxing the wealthiest more.

Since the government, which lacks a majority in parliament, passed the reform without a final vote in March using special constitutional powers, public opposition has grown.