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The French Constitutional validates the essentials of the pension reform
(Update with 112 detainees and riots in Paris and Rennes) Paris, Apr 14 (EFE).- The French Constitutional Council validated this Friday the delay of the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 years, the main measure of the reform of the pensions approved by the Government of President Emmanuel Macron. In addition, the body rejected the request that the pension reform be submitted to a citizen initiative referendum, as announced in a statement. On the other hand, the Constitutional Council invalidated six articles of the law, especially two related to promoting the hiring of workers over 55 years of age in large companies, considering that they had no place in a Social Security financing law. A source from the body explained to the press that, when validating the increase to 64 years, its nine members took into account “that the legislator seeks the survival of the system by distribution, also taking into account the increase in life expectancy.” He also indicated that the deliberations lasted for 16 hours straight, but declined to say whether or not the decision was unanimous. The source announced that the Constitutional Council will study a new request for a citizen initiative referendum on May 3, but with a different issue than the one raised so far. The new petition this time includes a provision that proposes a new tax related to the maintenance of the pension system that would mean “a change in the rule of law” admissible by the Council. Shortly after this long-awaited ruling was released, several demonstrations and concentrations were called in France. In Paris, street furniture was burned, including some thirty garbage containers, and clashes between police and protesters that led to 112 arrests. Rennes, in the northeast of the country, was another of the cities that registered notable disturbances. The door of a police station and the entrance to an old religious building were set on fire at the end of a protest by several hundred young people. Both fires were quickly extinguished. In a message on Twitter, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, called both incidents “unacceptable” and assured that their perpetrators will answer to Justice. Despite social and political pressure, the government intends to promulgate the law this weekend, according to official sources told local media, after a verdict that generated mixed reactions in the French political class. The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, pointed out that, with her decision, the Constitutional Council considers that “both in substance and in procedure”, the reform is in accordance with the Constitution. “Tonight there are neither winners nor losers,” Borne said on Twitter. The Government stressed in a statement that the Constitutional ruling “marks the end of the institutional and democratic path of reform”, and reiterated that its will is “to continue the agreement with the social partners”. Instead, the unions have already declined an invitation from Macron to a meeting on Tuesday to discuss non-pension issues, after the president refused to receive them while the reform was being debated. UNIONS CALL FOR “GREAT MOBILIZATION” ON MAY 1 The unions called for a “great popular mobilization” for May 1, which should be a “historic” moment to stop the reform, announced the general secretary of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT). ), Sophie Binet, during a protest rally in Paris. Binet said that the unions ask Macron to “return to common sense” and return the law to the National Assembly so that the deputies can debate and vote on it, “since it was approved without a vote in that chamber (the government triggered an article that allowed it). his people”. The eight main unions in the country will meet next Monday to study new protest measures, after twelve days of strikes and mobilizations at the national level since January. The decision of the Constitutional Council represents a “dangerous precedent”. because the Government could continue using the legal figure of a rectifying budget to “enforce important reforms to be approved,” said the president of the La Francia Insumisa group in the National Assembly, Mathilde Panot. In an appearance with the other leaders of the parties that make up the leftist Nupes coalition (socialist, environmentalist, communist), Panot said that she will continue to support the protests and strikes against the reform and launched a new appeal to Macron to withdraw the law. “It will not be the Constitutional Council that will make the French people change their minds,” she reiterated, alluding to the fact that around 70% of citizens reject the reform, according to surveys. The far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, warned for her part that the entry into force of “this brutal and unfair reform” will mark “the definitive break between the French people and Emmanuel Macron.” The decision of the Constitutional Council came after a tense day of waiting, with some 230 protest marches called by the unions throughout the country, including a concentration in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in Paris. The very headquarters of the Constitutional Council was armored since yesterday, with barriers and riot police, and the prohibition to organize concentrations in its vicinity. (c) EFE Agency
