France’s Constitutional Council will decide today on the future of President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial pension reform. The verdict of the Supreme Guardian of the French Constitution is expected from 6 p.m. The authority can overturn the pension reform in whole or in part or declare it to be constitutional. The decision will affect whether the country settles down after months of wrangling over gradually raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.
That’s what pension reform is about
Macron and the mid-government want to gradually raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 to prevent an impending hole in the pension fund. The payment period for a full pension should increase more quickly.
Currently, the retirement age in France is 62 years. In fact, retirement begins later on average: those who have not paid in long enough to receive a full pension work longer. At the age of 67 there is then a pension without a deduction, regardless of how long it has been paid in – the government wants to keep this. The reform, which has been the subject of protests for months, has now been approved. Macron wants it to come into force by the end of the year.
Three decision options for the Constitutional Council
After the heated debates in Parliament, both Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne and members of parliament and senators asked the Constitutional Council to examine the reform. MEPs criticize, for example, that the government has packaged the reform in a budget text and shortened the time for debate.
The Constitutional Council can now completely overturn the text – but this is considered unlikely. According to the broadcaster France Info, since it was founded in 1958, the body has only completely quashed 17 laws. Should this happen, the reform would have failed and Macron and the government would be enormously weakened. You could theoretically try to get your project off the ground in a different way.
The reform could also be approved in full or – and observers believe this to be the likely outcome – in large parts. Should the Constitutional Council reject certain passages, Macron would have to do without them for the time being, but could make the rest of the reform official. The government could then address the deleted passages in a new labor law.
Judgment on a possible referendum
The Constitutional Council will also decide today whether to initiate the procedure for a possible referendum that would cap the retirement age at 62 years. However, the procedure is only a weak weapon of the opponents of reform. Even if the constitutional court gives the go-ahead, this cannot prevent the reform from coming into force. It is extremely unlikely that there will actually be a referendum. Even if the necessary signatures were obtained, the government could prevent it by having the proposal debated in parliament.
Decision will affect protest
Even if the decision of the Constitutional Council is likely to be largely respected by trade unions and the opposition, that does not mean that the protests are over with the verdict. Constitutional lawyer Benjamin Morel estimated on the France Info channel that validating the reform would exacerbate the crisis and prevent the dialogue from resuming. In this case, more spontaneous protests would also be conceivable. In the past, spontaneous demonstrations have often turned violent.
