Ordino (Andorra) (AFP)

"Long live the prince!": Welcomed by children waving Andorran flags, Emmanuel Macron was Friday tour of the seven parishes of Andorra, a tiny state that, explained him retirees, adopted the retirement at 65 years and a system to points.

"Co-prince" of Andorra in the name of a tradition that goes back to Charlemagne, the head of state visited Friday morning successively the parishes (administrative divisions) of Canillo, Encamp, Sant Julia de Loria and Ordino.

French news caught up with him when a couple of pensioners called him to extol the Andorra pension scheme, a points system with a starting age of 65.

"The system was created in 1968, with the help of French experts who came to Andorra and said that we should not repeat the mistakes of the French system and that it was better to have an age of starting at age 65 and a points system, "he explained.

"And you're doing well and it's readable for people?" Asked the President with interest. "Yes yes," assured the husband, "and it's very fair."

Here "there is a consensus that has been created". But "when we move from one system to another, fear is sometimes there," concluded Mr. Macron while at the same time in France RATP staff launched the first union offensive against pension reform with a very followed strike.

Mr Macron addressed mid-day members of the General Council, wearing a traditional cocked hat, deploring the weakening of economic ties between Andorra and France and the "decline" of the French language in this small state .

The head of state, who described himself as "a child of the Pyrenees", also encouraged them to complete their difficult negotiations to sign an association agreement with the EU.

For Andorra, "the choice of Europe is that of a new model, which does not rely on exemptions and facilities but on the beauty of its landscapes, the strength of its economic fabric," he said. , in reference to the lightened tax system of Andorra.

© 2019 AFP