At least 300,000 people demonstrated this Thursday in several French cities against President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial pension reform. The 12th day of protest took place on the eve of the decision of the “wise men” of the Constitutional Council, who will today rule on the legality of the government’s proposal to change the retirement age from 62 to 64. Macron hopes the decision will be favorable to the government’s wishes, but the French vow to stay on the street.
“The decision of the Constitutional Council will put an end to the democratic and constitutional procedure,” the president said during a visit to the Netherlands on Wednesday. But he admitted that the public debate “will certainly continue”, opening the door to receive representatives from the central unions who led the protests in recent months before the law was passed.
The protests gained momentum after the government resorted to the “constitutional nuclear bomb”, Article 49.3 of the constitution, which allowed the controversial reform to be approved without a vote in the National Assembly. However, they have been marked by periods of violence and, according to official figures, no longer attract the crowds they used to. According to the Interior Ministry, 380,000 people across the country took part this Thursday — a far cry from the million people who attended the March 23 protest. However, according to the trade union federation CGT, there were more than 1.5 million.
The last hope of the French are the nine “wise men” of the Constitutional Council, who must say whether or not the reform respects the constitution of the Fifth Republic. They must also voice their views on the Shared Initiative Referendum, in which the left proposed setting the maximum statutory retirement age at the current 62 – not the 64 as the government’s proposal is. The decision is expected at the end of the day.
According to the French media there are three options for decision: to completely invalidate the pension reform (Since 1958, scholars have only done this with respect to 17 laws and this scenario is considered highly unlikely); let the reform continue as it is (another scenario that experts also don’t believe is possible); or reject certain measures of the government project, but not the central measure of changing the retirement age and increasing the number of years of paid career in order to obtain a pension without penalties.
Possible measures include the introduction of a “senior” index, which obliges large companies to declare employees over the age of 55, as well as the idea of open-ended contracts for older workers. In addition, the “wise men” can ratify the Shared Initiative Referendum in a symbolic decision. However, this process will take time (including collecting nearly five million signatures in nine months) and will not prevent the entry into force of the reform. Macron hopes to announce it soon so that it comes into effect by the end of the year.
The decision is in the hands of the Constitutional Council. O The current president is former Socialist Prime Minister Laurent Fabius (1984-1986), who also held the Ministry of Economic Affairs with Jacques Chirac and Foreign Affairs with François Hollande. Another former head of government, Alain Juppé (1995-1997), from Os Republicanos, is part of the group of scholars, which also includes lawyers and professional officials.
The term of office of the members of the Constitutional Council is nine years and is renewed every three years in groups of three. They are appointed by the president, the leader of the National Assembly or the Senate. Roughly speaking, two were nominated by socialists, four by La Republique and Marche! Macron and three others for “The Republicans. Former presidents of the Republic also have a seat on the Council and can choose whether or not to be part of it – Hollande always refused to do so, Nicolas Sarkozy even took part from May 2012 until July 2013.
Source: DN
