PARIS — After three months of political and social crisis over a controversial pension reform law, France's Constitutional Council on Friday ratified the essence of the law, including the key measure of raising the statutory retirement age from 3 to 62.

This decision is a direct rejection of the draft popular referendum for a joint initiative (RIP), which was among the three scenarios before the council, but the left submitted a second request last Thursday pending a decision by the Constitutional Council on the third of next May.

The approved articles are due to be published in the Official Gazette within 15 days, by the end of April, and to be implemented from September.

The council said on Friday evening that the executive branch (the government) "did not ignore any constitutional requirement", whether in using an amended social security budget to pass its reform, or the constitutional article denounced by opposition parties and unions.

Items rejected by the Council

But the council rejected six articles in the pension reform law, including the "Seniors Index" that encourages the employment and retention of seniors in companies, and the imposition of oversight of indefinite employment contracts for seniors.


In addition, the council, chaired by former Socialist Prime Minister Laurent Fabien, rejected the mechanism that ensures the preservation of the collection of contributions from the supplementary pension and certain conditions related to the right to early departure of civil servants in the working categories.

The articles also include certain provisions relating to "specific individual control for the benefit of employees engaged in trades or activities particularly exposed to certain occupational hazards", and article 27, which guarantees a data system for insured persons in the pension payment system on a regular basis.

It is noteworthy that the Constitutional Council, consisting of 9 members (elders) appointed every 9 years, was established under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on the fourth of October 1958, and is responsible for monitoring the compatibility of the law with the Constitution, and supervised the monitoring of 13 ordinary laws and 4 basic laws.

"The battle is not over"

Gerald Olivier (political analyst specializing in international relations) told Al Jazeera Net, "The French people must bear their responsibility, because it was the reason behind the choice of Emmanuel Macron as president of the country since 2017," noting that the decision was expected even with the government's resort to Article (49.3) of the Constitution, because it knows that it is a legal procedure and has every right to apply it.

A few moments after the Constitutional Council's decision was announced, the leader of the "Proud France" party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, responded quickly, writing on his Twitter account that the decision "meets the needs of the presidential monarchy more than its concern for the demands of the sovereign people," stressing that "the struggle continues and must gather its strength."

La décision du Conseil constitutionnel montre qu'il est plus attentif aux besoins de la monarchie présidentielle qu'à ceux du peuple souverain. La lutte continue et doit rassembler ses forces.

— Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) April 14, 2023

Marine Le Pen, a former presidential candidate and far-right leader, said that "the political fate of pension reform has not yet been decided," describing the reform as "futile and unjust."

Si la décision du Conseil constitutionnel clôt la séquence institutionnelle, le sort politique de la réforme des retraites n’est pas scellé. Le peuple ayant toujours le dernier mot, il lui appartiendra de préparer l’alternance qui reviendra sur cette réforme inutile et injuste.

— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) April 14, 2023

The head of the National Front, Jordan Bardella, said that "Macron will not be able to hide behind the decision that does not close the debate in any way," stressing that it contributes to the formation of a major rift between the president of the republic and the French people.

In contrast to the political and popular voices opposing the decision of the Constitutional Council, government supporters welcomed Friday's decision, such as Labour Minister Olivier Dussopet, who considered it "the end of the legislative and democratic process of reform after months of parliamentary consultations and debates."

Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne (the godmother of the law) posted a series of five tweets praising what she saw as "the arrival of pension reform to the end of a democratic process with neither a winner nor a loser."

Unions refuse to meet Macron

The presidency announced that Macron invited union representatives to attend next Tuesday at the Elysee Palace "regardless of the decision of the Constitutional Council." "The door will remain open without preconditions for this dialogue," she said in her statement.

This comes in a clear indication of the change in the president's policy towards trade unions, especially after he refused to sit with them at the discussion table about a month ago.


But the federal secretary of the union "CGT" for public services Francois Levartowski confirmed to Al Jazeera Net that the union refused to meet Macron before the second of next May.

"France is witnessing today an existential debate about what is legal and what is legitimate. For example, Macron is undoubtedly a legal president, but his desire to impose basic laws such as forcing us to work for two more years is illegitimate."

"The balance of power that could force Macron to retreat are the bosses and big companies, the ongoing strikes that threaten the stability of the economy, as well as the anger of the people," Livartowski said.

The trade unions, which believe that reason has been the thinker and guide of the demonstrations since their inception, still believe that the approval of any law does not necessarily mean its implementation, because everyone is committed to mobilizing to fight this law, which deepens the problem between the government and the people.

Political analyst Olivier believes that fear now revolves around reactions that may be violent after a long day of waiting, because many believe that their hopes of being able to overcome the social conflict that has taken root since last January have evaporated, "which threatens to continue taking to the streets and not extinguish the flames of mobilization that erupted months ago."