PARIS - President Emmanuel Macron has signed into law a Bill raising France’s state pension age that has sparked months of protests and strikes, the government’s official journal showed on Saturday.

The proclamation of the law came after it received the Constitutional Council’s approval.

The legislation, which pushes up the age at which one can draw a pension from 62 to 64, remains deeply unpopular, and spontaneous protests broke out when the council’s decision was announced.

Protesters gathered outside Paris City Hall holding banners that read “Climate of anger” and “No end to the strikes until the reform is withdrawn”, in a sign that the council’s verdict was unlikely to end widespread anger with Mr Macron and his reform.

Some protesters burned rubbish bins, while in the north-western city of Rennes, the entrance to a police station was set on fire.

Trade unions on Friday called on the government not to enact the legislation, despite the green light from the Constitutional Council, and urged workers to turn out in force for marches on Labour Day, May 1. 

They rejected an invitation by Mr Macron to meet on Tuesday.

Opinion polls show a vast majority reject the policy changes, as well as the fact that the government pushed the Bill through Parliament without a final vote it might have lost.

“All the labour unions are calling on the President of the Republic to show some wisdom, listen and understand what is happening in the country and not to promulgate this law,” the leader of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) union, Ms Sophie Binet, said.

In a joint statement, unions said this was “the only way to soothe the anger in the country”.

But officials shrugged off the request, saying the text would be turned into law in the coming days.

Labour Minister Olivier Dussopt said it should enter into force on Sept 1 as initially planned.

‘The fight continues’

The council said the government’s actions were in line with the Constitution and approved raising the legal retirement age, with only peripheral measures meant to boost employment for older workers struck down on the grounds that they did not belong in this legislation.

“The country must continue to move forward, work and face the challenges that await us,” Mr Macron said earlier in the week, looking to move on to other reforms.

But the opposition said they would not back down, and unions said they would not attend a meeting Mr Macron wanted to organise with them on Tuesday.

“We won’t give up. There will be a great May 1,” said teacher Gilles Sornay, 65, at the Paris rally, referring to protests planned for international workers’ day.

“The fight continues,” hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon declared.

Separately, the Constitutional Council rejected a proposal by the opposition to organise a citizens’ referendum on the pension reform.

The opposition has tabled another bid for a referendum, which is expected to be reviewed by the council in early May.

Political observers say the widespread discontent over the government’s reform could have longer-term repercussions, including a possible boost for the far right.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen wrote on Twitter that “the political fate of the pension reform is not sealed”, urging voters to back those who oppose it in the next election so that they can scrap it.

Mr Macron has said the French must work longer or else the pension budget will fall billions of euros into the red each year by the end of the decade.

But the pension system is a cornerstone of France’s cherished social protection model, and trade unions say the money can be found elsewhere, including by taxing the rich more heavily.

While attention has focused on the retirement age of 62, only 36 per cent of French workers retire at that age and another 36 per cent already retire at an older age on account of requirements to pay into the system for at least 42 years to be able to claim a full pension.

That means the normal retirement age for a French employee who started working at the age of 22 was 64.5, marginally above a European Union average of 64.3, according to figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, based on 2020 data. REUTERS