After three months of demonstrations and strikes, it was time for the Constitutional Council to have its say on Macron's pension reform, which upset many residents.
What the Constitutional Council was to give its opinion on was partly the government's way of rounding the National Assembly, the second chamber of the French parliament, and that the time to be able to debate the reform was shortened. However, the Council only approves the reform with a few minor comments.
The second issue was that of a referendum on the retirement age tabled by a hundred or so left-wing parliamentarians. There, the Council flatly refuses.
Union leaders had already warned before the announcement that there would be more strikes if the reform was not withdrawn.
Macron has said that the reform is absolutely necessary to secure public finances.