After months of sometimes violent street protests and heated debates in the National Assembly, the Constitutional Council may decide Friday on the unpopular pension reform process that is the main blueprint for Emmanuel Macron’s second term.
The French are looking forward to the decision of this supreme judicial body, located in the old building of the Royal Ballet in the center of Paris, from where the “patriots” on July 12, 1789 raised an uprising that led to the fall of the Bastille.
The Council, which has rarely generated such interest in recent decades, has three options: either approve the reform or reject it in whole or in part. The reform provides for an increase in the statutory retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
It is unlikely that this body, empowered to check the conformity of laws with the Constitution, will reverse the entire reform. But this could greatly improve the text and strengthen the trade unions’ arguments for its withdrawal or suspension.
Supporters and opponents of the reform expect the suspension of some articles, especially the verification of the new contract for indefinite work.
Constitutional law professor Laureline Fontaine said that this partial amendment, which would be the least damaging to the executive branch, “goes in the direction that (the council) has always taken”, which is “not to object to major social or community reforms.”
“If you cross out some items … but not the age of 64, this will in no way solve the social conflict,” warned Laurent Bergé, secretary general of the French Confederation of Democratic Labor (CFDT).
On paper, the court could approve the entire bill without any changes, but that’s unlikely, many constitutional experts say. It is also unlikely that she will completely reject him.
Unusual procedure
The Constitutional Court should also consider holding a “joint initiative referendum” requested by leftists who want to put in a referendum a proposal for a law that would stop the retirement age from exceeding 62.
After that, it remains to be seen the reaction of the opponents of the reform, and these are hundreds of thousands who have been regularly demonstrating since mid-January.
The forcible adoption of the text on March 20 by the government without a vote in the National Assembly on the basis of a constitutional text allowing it, led to a great wave of mobilization, witnessing the first acts of violence, which then were repeated.
But the decline was evident on Thursday, the twelfth day of mobilization. The number of demonstrators fell to 380,000 for the third week in a row, according to authorities, but it has reached “more than 1.5 million” according to the General Confederation of Workers (CGT).
The violence has receded
On Thursday, the level of violence decreased, but the Constitutional Council saw a brief attempt to disrupt its work by demonstrators who were dispersed by security forces.
Cyril Chabanier, head of the French Confederation of Christian Workers, warned that “if we don’t get at least a referendum on a joint initiative, social anger will be very strong.”
Union representatives met on Thursday evening to formulate a joint response to the various scenarios.
An intelligence agency memo seen by AFP says 131 moves are expected following the council’s decision.
France has one of the lowest retirement ages in Europe.
The executive power substantiates its project by the need to solve the problem of the financial decline of pension funds and the aging of the population.
