France’s top constitutional body is to rule Wednesday on a last-ditch effort by opposition lawmakers to thwart President Emmanuel Macron’s move to raise the retirement age to 64, through a possible referendum or new bill restoring the age to 62.
The move has been prompted by opposition legislators who are seeking to launch a complex, lengthy process in hopes of rejecting Macron's unpopular pension law that was enacted last month.
The Constitutional Council’s role is to assess whether the opposition’s request meets the legal conditions for a potential referendum. If so, supporters would have nine months to collect signatures from at least 4.8 million, or 10%, of French voters.
Macron’s government would then be able to choose between sending the opposition’s text to parliament for debate and eventually a vote, or waiting for six months to put the measure before voters in a referendum. The proposal would only go to a national referendum if it were not debated by lawmakers.
However, the Constitutional Council rejected a similar proposal in April. The authors have revised the measure to add language stating that a change in the financing of France’s pension system is needed.
The process, established in 2015, has never yet led to a referendum.
Regardless of what the council decides, its ruling would not suspend the law that Macron’s government pushed through by using a special constitutional power to raise the retirement age without a final parliamentary vote.
Macron has defended the reform, saying it is needed to keep the pension system afloat as the population ages.
The measure has prompted months of street protests from opponents who argue there are other ways to finance the pension system, including via a tax on the wealthy or employers instead.
The country’s main labor unions on Tuesday called for another round of nationwide demonstrations and strikes on June 6.
