The law that changes the retirement age in France from 62 to 64, promulgated today by President Emmanuel Macron, will enter into force on September 1, the government announced.
“It is the September date that was chosen,” said the government spokesman, Olivier Véran, to the TF1 channel, quoted by the Spanish agency Europa Press.
Véran said that the increase in the retirement age will be gradual.
“At the end of [atual] five-year period, there will be 63. We will have to wait for the next five-year presidential [para que seja elevada para 64]”, he stated.
Despite having 15 days to do so, Macron promulgated the law at dawn this morning, which allowed it to be published in the Official Gazette that morning.
Véran said the government “needs to move forward peacefully with the French and the social partners.”
“It is not contradictory to have approved this law,” he said.
The reform promoted by Macron against the will of the unions has been contested in the streets, sometimes with violence.
“The last few weeks have been difficult for many French people,” Véran acknowledged, defending the “need for appeasement in the country.”
The government spokesman added that Macron would “immediately approach” the unions for talks.
The unions are the main organizers of the demonstrations in recent weeks against the pension reform.
Union leaders had warned that they would not sit down to negotiate unless the initiative, now made law after its publication in the Official Gazette of the French Republic, was withdrawn.
Macron will address the country on Monday, at 8:00 p.m. in Paris (7:00 p.m. in Lisbon).
The unions and the left accused the head of state of provocation for this rapid promulgation, carried out in the middle of the night.
The workers’ representatives declined an invitation from the President of the Republic for a meeting on Tuesday, April 18, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.
Although it censored six articles, the Constitutional Council validated most of the reform.
The court considered that the law was in line with the Constitution, since it took into account measures for the survival of the pension system and the increase in life expectancy.
Source: TSF
