The French Constitutional Council has approved this Friday the essential points of the unpopular pension reform.
Although he has censored some secondary articles, the president, Emmanuel Macron, can already enact the law that will increase the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The high court has rejected the initiative for a referendum which, if it had been successful at the end of a long and complex journey, would have annulled the recently approved reform.
The decision of the Constitutional Council, equivalent in France to the Spanish Constitutional Court, represents a victory for Macron and his reform after months of political and social crisis.
But it is a partial victory.
Because of social rejection.
And because the veto of some articles of the law will open a debate on whether it makes sense to approve it in pieces or if it should be renegotiated again.
The court has one month to consider a new appeal to hold a referendum.
If approved, it would open a window of hope for opponents of the reform.
Few decisions of such political significance and surrounded by so much expectation were remembered in the institution chaired by former Socialist Prime Minister Laurent Fabius and which counts among its nine members one of his successors, the conservative Alain Juppé.
The headquarters, in the Royal Palace complex, was protected by law enforcement.
The Ministry of the Interior had prohibited gatherings in front of the building.
The court's decision responded to several appeals against the left-wing and extreme-right opposition and another from the Prime Minister herself, Élisabeth Borne, to ensure the constitutionality of the law.
The opposition questioned, among other points, that the "sincerity and clarity" of the parliamentary debates had been respected.
And he accused the Government of "manipulating the procedure" for having used a financial law instead of a classic law for the reform.
A protester holds a flare, this Friday in Paris.DPA via Europa Press (DPA via Europa Press)
Thousands of people took to the streets this Friday in Paris in protest of Macron's pension reform.DPA via Europa Press (DPA via Europa Press)
The security forces immobilize a protester, this Friday in Paris.DPA via Europa Press (DPA via Europa Press)
Young people and students protest this Friday in Paris. JULIEN DE ROSA (AFP)
It is unusual for the Constitutional Court to reject a law in its entirety.
Since 1959, at the beginning of the current V Republic, he has vetoed 17 of the 744 laws on which he has had to rule.
The ruling closes a chapter in the tortuous journey of the pension reform.
Borne filed it on January 10.
The rejection was immediate and massive.
Seven out of ten Frenchmen were against the law, and still are.
On January 19, the first national day of strikes and demonstrations was held.
This Thursday was the twelfth.
Meanwhile, France has lived through a rocky legislative process, with accusations of "ideological terrorism" against the radical left and of "authoritarianism" against Macron.
Leaders like the moderate trade unionist Laurent Berger speak of a “democratic crisis”.
Although at no time have the strikes succeeded in paralyzing the country, it has been significant, firstly, the breadth of rejection in public opinion, which goes beyond ideologies and social classes, and secondly, its persistence.
The rejection has barely eroded in the polls, although attendance at the demonstrations has fallen in recent weeks.
Another recent phenomenon has been the eruption of violence between small groups of protesters and reports of police excesses.
The Constitutional Council is made up of nine members proposed, in equal parts, by the Presidents of the Republic, the Senate and the National Assembly.
His term is nine years.
In addition to Fabius and Juppé, the other members are Jacques Mézard, Jacqueline Gourault, François Pillet, François Seners, Véronique Malbec, Michel Pinault and Corinne Luquiens.
That is, six men and three women.
Of the nine, five are political (two macronistas, two conservatives and one socialist).
The median age is 72 years.
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