The French Constitutional Council has given the green light to the essential provisions of the pension reform, in particular the most contested article, the one which increases the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
The "wise men" also rejected the request of 250 French opposition MPs to hold a shared initiative referendum on pension reform.
In Paris, the protest against the reform has reassembled, with clashes, smoke bombs and electric bikes set on fire.
The French president,
Emmanuel Macron, will promulgate the pension reform within 48 hours
: this is what BFMTV reports after the go-ahead from the Constitutional Council.
The government "takes note of the decision of the Constitutional Council", "
with this reform, our pension system will be balanced in 2030
": reads it in a press release from the French government, which underlines that "on the 36 articles of the draft law, 30 have been fully validated, 2 partially and 4 considered as 'social knights', i.e. not to be included in a social security financing law".
This is what we read in a press release from the services of the prime minister, Elisabeth Borne.
ANSA. it
Clashes in France after the green light to the pension reform - PHOTO
Green light from the 'wise' to raise the retirement age to 64 years.
Referendum request rejected.
Macron will promulgate the law within 48 hours.
In the capital, broken windows, stone throwing and police charges.
Dozens of rental electric bikes are on fire.
Mélenchon: 'The struggle continues' (ANSA)
THE REACTIONS
French unions appeal to Macron
not to enact the law.
The social partners will not accept meetings with the executive before May 1st.
Mélenchon: 'The fight over pensions continues'
After the go-ahead of the French wise men for pension reform, the radical leftist leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, condemned a decision that shows a Constitutional Council "more attentive to the needs of the presidential monarchy than to those of the sovereign people. The struggle continues, we must gather strength".
Le Pen: 'The fate of the pension reform is not decided'
"If the decision of the Constitutional Council closes the institutional sequence, the political fate of the pension reform is not decided": is Marine Le Pen's comment on the decision of the Constitutional Council who approved much of the reform of the French government.
"The people always have the last word - continued Le Pen -, it will be up to the people to prepare the alternative that will return to this useless and unjust reform".
THE PROTESTS
Choirs, smoke bombs, protest slogans
against Emmanuel Macron and against the government: the protest against the decision of the Constitutional Council which validated a large part of the pension reform is being organized throughout France.
In Paris, hundreds of people in the square of the Hotel de Ville, the seat of the Municipality.
The Parisian protest has degenerated into
clashes
.
A first procession left from the Hotel de Ville headed for place de la Concorde.
After a few tens of meters on rue de Rivoli,
the first smashed shop windows, stones thrown and police charges
.
Clashes in Paris
In the square of the Hotel de Ville, some young men wearing black masks
set fire to an entire parking lot containing dozens of rental electric bicycles
.
As the flames gained ground, the batteries of the electric bicycles exploded one after another.