France’s Constitutional Council presented its verdict on Friday (14 April) on a deeply unpopular bill that will delay retirement for two years to 64 and plans to hold a referendum to contest it.
This is why it matters, and what can happen.
VERDICT ON PENSION BILL
* If it believes the bill is in violation of the Constitution, the Council can repeal it. Opposition parties asked the Council to strike down the bill because it incorporated pension reform into a social security budget bill. This set a strict deadline for debates, and bypassed a final vote in parliament.
This would be a crushing defeat for President Emmanuel Macron, but a surprising win for unions or protesters. Macron could choose to start over with a new bill, or move on.
However, both constitutional experts and government sources say that the Council is unlikely block the overall reform. This has been rare in the past.
* The government could pass the legislation in the next days if the Council finds nothing amiss. Officials hope this would put an end to the protests.
* Another alternative, which is more likely to be confirmed by constitutional experts and government sources, is for the Council to approve the raising of the legal age to retirement, but rejects measures that would boost employment for older workers because they are not included in the social security budget bill.
REFERENDUM
The road may not end just because the Constitutional Council grants its approval, with or without caveats.
Opposition members of Parliament want to organize a citizens’ referendum about capping the retirement age at 60.
They would have to go through the hoops required to organize in France. This is a new concept that was introduced in 2015.
First, you need to have enough support from the members of Parliament. This is already accomplished. The second step is to get the green light from Council.
The next condition is to get a tenth vote of registered voters sign a petition calling on the plebiscite.
This is a difficult task and must be completed in nine months. Some unions asked that the government not publish the law before the deadline expired.
The Senate and Assembly will have six months to review the proposal to limit the retirement age to 60 if the threshold is met. The president must submit the proposal to referendum if Parliament doesn’t respond.
