France's Macron signs controversial pension reform into law

French President Emmanuel Macron has signed into law a controversial bill to raise the country's retirement age by two years, the government's official journal showed on Saturday.

The proclamation of the law came after France's Constitutional Council on Friday approved the main retirement-age measure and follows months of protests against the reform, which the government forced through parliament without a final vote.

The council, made up chiefly of former politicians and senior civil servants, approved the core elements of the law in their decision, including the key contested provision that would increase the minimum retirement age by two years to 64. 

While the green light from the court is a source of relief for Macron, he still faces deep opposition to the pension reform. Labour unions have remained unusually united through the protests with opinion polls showing a majority of French people oppose raising the retirement age and support the strikes that started in January. 

Even before the ruling, Macron tried to show he’s ready to move on to other issues, inviting unions, “without preconditions”, to meet at the Elysee on Tuesday for discussions. However, in a statement on Friday evening, leaders of the major labour movements said they wouldn’t accept any meetings before May 1, which is Labour Day in most of Europe and when they have planned their next major protest.

Macron now has two weeks to enact the law. He’s previously said he intends for it to be applied in September, a timeline confirmed by labour minister Olivier Dussopt after the ruling.

Macron’s government says raising the pension age is vital to boost employment rates and halt the build-up of deficits in the massive public retirement system as the population ages. Unions say changing the age thresholds to claim a full pension will disproportionately penalise the least well-off and that there are other options to balance the system, including higher taxes on business and the wealthy.

Opposition lawmakers who requested a Constitutional Council review of the law argued the government had used an inappropriate vehicle for the reform, as well as tools that hastened the process and made debates unclear and insincere. Unions and protesters were particularly angered by Macron’s use of a provision to bypass a vote on the bill when it became clear he lacked a majority in the National Assembly.