The serious political and social crisis in which France has been plunged for months does not seem to be overcome anytime soon, as the new riots that took place last night demonstrated. The Constitutional Council had validated hours before, in a long-awaited ruling, the essentials of the unpopular pension reform, including the delay by two years - from 62 to 64 - of the legal retirement age, and rejected the request for organize a referendum.
This decision represents a clear legal victory for President Emmanuel Macron, although it carries a very high risk that the protest in the street will become radicalized. Last night there were already spontaneous demonstrations and riots in Paris, Rennes, Nantes and Lyon, with dozens of arrests. In Rennes, the Breton capital, protesters set fire to the door of a police station and that of a former Jacobin convent converted into a conference center. In Paris there were about thirty small street furniture fires.
The new episode of violent response was expected. The high body that interprets the Constitution, made up of nine members, the wise men, censured six minor aspects that must be corrected but that do not undermine the project. It deals, among others, with the provisions to induce companies to employ people over 60 years of age and the special contract for these workers. They are technical corrections, for having used an improper procedure. These eliminated aspects may be collected in other laws.
More important was that the Constitutional Council rejected a first petition, presented by more than 250 parliamentarians, to collect signatures –nearly five million are needed– and organize a referendum, within a year, so that retirement is set at 62 years and no more. Opponents of the reform thought that the approval of the so-called “shared initiative referendum” would freeze the project for a year. It hasn't been like that. Another victory for Macron but another reason to greatly exacerbate spirits.
The President of the Republic now plans to promulgate the law in a very short period of time, less than 48 hours. The entry into force is scheduled for the first of September.
Macron has invited the unions to go to the Élysée on Tuesday to talk and calm things down. But the union leaders are not now for dialogue, at least not before the great mobilization that they will organize for May Day.
If the situation on the street spilled over in the coming days, there would still be an emergency escape valve in the hands of the Constitutional Council. On May 3 he is due to announce his decision on another petition for a referendum on the retirement age. It would be surprising if he accepted it but it cannot be ruled out entirely.
The New Ecologist and Social Popular Union – a coalition of left-wing parties – deplored the ruling of the wise men and urged Macron not to promulgate the law. The head of her parliamentary group insisted that it is a "bad, unfair and illegitimate" law. The environmentalist Marine Tondelier confirmed that "the reform is legal but more than ever illegitimate" and warned that it will come: "The parties, the unions, the French, will not turn the page."
On the part of the Government, the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, who has suffered a true ordeal during the processing of the law and has received many threats, published a tweet in which he stated that "this decision marks the end of the legislative and democratic path of the reform after months of agreement and debates in Parliament”. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne wanted to be conciliatory. "Tonight there are neither winners nor losers," she declared, in a display of optimism.
The leader of Los Republicanos (LR, traditional right), Éric Ciotti, called on all political forces to “accept” the ruling. His party, with 60 deputies in the National Assembly, will be key to trying to find a minimum of stability in the four years that Macron has left at the Elysee. The problem is that in LR they are very divided.
One of the unknowns is whether the union unity of recent months will be maintained. For the moment they will continue the fight until the May Day marches, which are intended to be massive. But it is clear that there are different sensibilities. The main union, the historically more pragmatic French Democratic Labor Confederation (CFDT), could be tempted to call off the fight to seek other agreements with the government. The General Confederation of Labor (CGT), on the other hand, has a firmer position. For the unions, which have been losing strength for many years, the issue is not just pensions but their own future and their representative role in French society.
