The French government used its executive powers Thursday to raise the retirement age to 64 and avoid a vote on an unpopular bill, outraging lawmakers who could retaliate with a no-confidence motion and guaranteeing more strikes and protests nationwide.
PARIS — The French government used its executive powers Thursday to raise the retirement age to 64 and avoid a vote on an unpopular bill, outraging lawmakers who could retaliate with a no-confidence motion and immediately sending protesters out onto the streets of Paris and guaranteeing more strikes in the days ahead.As Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne announced the decision in the Parliament, opposition lawmakers booed and chanted, some of them holding signs reading “No to 64 years.
Macron has been pushing for changes to the country’s pension system since he was elected in 2017, as a way to shore up the financial position of a graying society and keep France competitive.“This reform is necessary,” Borne said in Parliament, adding that a select group of lawmakers had previously reached a consensus on the law, and that “we cannot take the risk of seeing 175 hours of parliamentary debate collapse.
France has a lower minimum retirement age than many of its European neighbors, where laws similar to the one proposed by Macron have prompted less divisive debates. Germany, for instance, is preparing for an increase in the retirement age from 65 to 67, and lawmakers there have faced little public backlash.
Opponents of an increase in the French retirement age counter that the advantages of workers are the result of hard-won battles with consecutive governments and touch the core of the country’s national identity.
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