France’s Constitutional Council on Wednesday rejected the opposition’s request to hold a shared initiative referendum (RIP, for the acronym in French) so that the legal retirement age in France cannot be set beyond 62. The unpopular pension reform promoted and already promulgated by the President, Emmanuel Macron, gradually increases it to 64. The institution chaired by former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius believes that the request for consultation “does not refer, in the sense of Article 11 of the Constitution, to a reform of social policy”, the main point that this body should examine. It is the second time in 15 days that the nine ‘wise men’ of the Constitutional Council have blocked the organization of a RIP on pension reform. The first petition, submitted by left-wing deputies, was rejected on April 14. The second was registered by 250 deputies and senators of the same ideology. After the double rejection, the opposition still has a bullet in the chamber against the pension reform. On June 8, the National Assembly will analyze a proposal by the centrist and regionalist parliamentary group LIOT (Freedom, Independents, Overseas Territories) to withdraw Macron’s project and return to 62 as the legal minimum age to retire in France. After this review, the text will go to the Senate, where a majority of the seats are in favor of the legislative amendment. The Constitutional Council concludes that the request for a referendum “does not refer to a reform related to social policy”. at least 185 of the 925 MPs there are between Senators and Representatives. While the nine “wise men” validated the request to promote a RIP, nothing could guarantee it would be held. Calling for a referendum through this mechanism is a long and tedious process. The opponents of the pension reform would have had nine months to collect 4.8 million signatures for a possible nomination in the polls. The protests continue. The two Houses would then have had six months to examine the bill. In the unlikely event that parliamentarians fail to vote on the text, the President of the Republic must call a referendum. In any case, gathering all the signatures necessary for the convocation was no guarantee that the consultation would take place, as Congress and the Senate could reject it. The reform promoted by Macron, proclaimed on April 15, should enter into force on September 1. From January 19, the unions have called thirteen mass demonstrations against the project that, among other things, raises the retirement age, a text that according to polls rejects seven out of ten French people. The next union protest will take place on June 6, two days before MPs consider LIOT’s proposal to try to repeal the new legislation.
Source: La Verdad
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