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The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, officially promulgated this Saturday morning the pension law proposed by his Government, hours after the French Constitutional Council endorsed this Friday the main pillars of the controversial reform.
The promulgation is already published in the Official Gazette of the French Republic, which publishes all the regulations that come into force in France. With the sentence “in the first paragraph (of the regulation on retirement), the word ‘sixty-two’ is replaced by the word ‘sixty-four'”, France raises its retirement age, the point that had generated the most controversy in unions.
From the Élysée it had already been pointed out that the only thing missing was this approval from the Constitutional Council to take the next step and for Macron to stamp his signature, in a movement that symbolizes a step forward for the Executive after weeks of protests in the streets of France.
The magistrates have knocked down six provisions included in the reform, including the one known as ‘senior index’, a system with which it was proposed to encourage the hiring of older people, but they considered the most controversial aspects of the text constitutional.
After this endorsement from the Council, French unions rejected President Macron’s invitation to meet this Tuesday, claiming that there will be no dialogue until he withdraws the controversial reform, in addition to calling for what is expected to be a large demonstration on May 1.
In the hours before the enactment, there was a last-ditch effort by the presidents of the four parliamentary groups of the New Popular Ecologist and Social Union (NUPES), the coalition of left-wing parties led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, to start a new process of deliberations of the reform in the Constitutional Assembly.
“Even at night, it’s night”, lamented the vice-president of the French Insoumise parliamentary group and part of NUPES, Alexis Corbière, on his Twitter account, while the “green” deputy Sandrine Rousseau, described the sudden promulgation of the law — French media yesterday gave a few days of respite before the entry into force of the text — as an “irresponsible” decision, which “puts democracy in danger.”
The first morning reactions of the unions have come from the rail sector. Julien Troccaz, president of Sud-Rail, who declared himself shocked by the promulgation. “It is clear that tonight, (Emmanuel Macron) has clearly signed the end of his term. It is impossible to believe, given the social fracture, and given the contempt generated by this measure, that we are going to move forward,” he made it known speaking to BFMTV.
MORE THAN A HUNDRED DETAINED
This Friday has marked the twelfth day of protests that have taken place throughout the country and that has resulted in this last day with at least 112 arrests, according to the French Security Forces.
The Parisian security forces have dispersed the protesters with batons, who have burned several bicycles in the Town Hall Square, where nearly 4,000 people have gathered, according to figures from the Police Headquarters.
In another part of the capital, another group has spontaneously marched towards the Plaza de la Bastille, where the Police have also had to deploy to disperse the protesters, who have spread out in different areas of the capital and have burned containers of garbage along Amelot street.
The same scenario is repeated in other French cities, such as Rennes, where the Police have charged against the protesters, who have burned garbage containers and set fire to a police station. In addition, the flames have also devoured the entrance to the Jacobin Convent. At least three people have been arrested in connection with these incidents, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.