Pension reforms in France: the Constitutional Council authorizes an increase in the age to 64

France’s highest constitutional body has acquitted Macron’s government’s deeply unpopular move to raise the state retirement age from 62 to 64.

The Constitutional Council also rejected calls for a referendum by political opponents, but canceled some reforms on the grounds of legal flaws.

There have been 12 days of protests against the reforms since January.

In March, the government used a special constitutional power to impose reforms without a vote.

President Emmanuel Macron argues the changes are needed to prevent a collapse of the pension system, and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne tweeted on Friday: “Tonight there is no winner or loser.”

The authorities had banned demonstrations in front of the Constitutional Council building until Saturday morning, but crowds of protesters gathered near it, and the ruling was met with ridicule.

Some demonstrators chanted that they would continue to protest until the changes were withdrawn.

Street barricades were erected near the court and riot police were deployed in anticipation of further protests, which could turn violent.

Among a raft of proposed changes rejected by the nine members of the Constitutional Council is a so-called “big index” aimed at prodding companies with more than 1,000 workers to hire employees over the age of 55.

The Alliance of Left Nubians was one of the groups to appeal to the council over reforms and its leader, Jean-Luc Melenchon, said the “fighting” would continue.

He said, “The Constitutional Council’s decision shows that it is more attentive to the needs of the presidential monarchy than to the needs of the sovereign people.”

Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally party, who also appealed to the court, responded on social media that “the political fate of pension reform is not settled”.

And while the court rejected an initial attempt to hold a referendum on reforms, it will decide next month on another proposal for a left-wing vote at the national level.

French political analyst Antoine Prestel told the BBC he did not think there would soon be an end to the protests that have erupted across France over the past three months.

“A lot of people have been saying that the reforms will pass and the Constitutional Court won’t sidestep them, so it’s not a surprise,” he said.

“But I think that in the coming hours and at the end of the week we will witness a lot of riots and strikes in the country because there are still 70% of the French people against reform.”