Explained | France pension reforms: What exactly has been decided by Constitutional Council

France has been rocked by protests over President Emmanuel Macron-led government's pension reform bill. On Friday (April 14)theConstitutional Council, France's highest constitutional authority finally announced its decision saying the Macron government's pension reforms werein accordance with the French Constitution.

The decision paves way for the French government toraise the retirement age from 62 to 64 and it is highly likely the bill will be promulgated in the coming days.

Just one day prior to the verdict, France saw protests by protesters all across the country. Demonstrators also stormed the headquarters of French luxury goods firm LVMH in Paris.

Watch | Fresh protests across France over pension reform ahead of key court ruling

Constitutional Council is a legal authority, though it takes social and political context into consideration while deciding matters. The council may accept, modify or reject the proposed pension reforms.

The nine-member council and its decision about the reforms have decided the future of the legislation. According to reports in French media, it was highly unlikely that the council would have rejected the reforms outright. Despite passing the core of the legislation, the council refused to give its assent to some of the minor provisions.

Axing unrelated provisions

In legalese, these are called 'legislative riders'. The Constitutional Council closely looked at the provisions of the legislation. If it thinks that any provisions are not related to core issue the legislation seeks to address, it has the authority to remove them.

The pension reform bill is technically a budgetary measure. Therefore anything not deemed related to 'budgetary things' can potentially be axed.

According toreports, the court rejected six minor proposals which includes forcing large companies to publish data regarding how many employees above 55 were working for them and creating a special contract for older workers.

Since the proposal waspurely budgetary,it was axed. Supporters of 'senior index' were arguing that it is indeed a budgetary measure since companies who would not make 'senior index' would be fined and the money may go to the national social security budget.

The Constitutional Council also rejected a proposal by the opposition to organise a citizens' referendum on the pension reform.

Why is the government extending the age limit?

The government is of the view that extending the pension age will prevent the French service system from collapsing under the weight of deficits.

Notably, the workers in France tend to retire much earlier than their European Union (EU) counterparts. The direct repercussion is that the French exchequer has to foot a bigger pension bill than most countries in the bloc.

The French pensionersalso receive 54.4 per cent of their last pay slip as pension on average. Comparatively, the average EU pension amount stands at 46.2 per cent.

Appeals against the bill

Constitutional Council will also have to decide on appeals against the bills. The appeals have come from the Left as well as the Right of the French political spectrum.

Eventually, the president of the Constitutional Council would ask one of his colleagues to analyse the bill and write a report.

The chosen member of the council, while writing their report can take legal advice from legal department of the council and can even meet politicians who have lodged the appeal.

The report, when made, would be presented to the council. After this, each council member will take the floor to put forth his view on the report. A simple majority vote will decide the fate. The president will caste the casting vote in case of a tie.

It is not guaranteed that the decision of the council would decide the matter once and for all. Parties from French political Left has said that even if the reforms pass the hurdle of Constitutional Council, they will continue to oppose it.

Protests to continue

French hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melencho vowed that fight against Macron's reform plan would continue despite the court's decision.

"The fight continues and must gather force," said Melecho, leader of the France Unbowed (LFI) party.

The police are anticipating over 10,000 people to gather in Paris late on Friday night to protest the decision. Aspersions have also been cast over leftwing radicals attempting to vandalise the streets and engage in violent clashes.

Macron, in the lead-up to the council's decision, had been hoping that the outcome would discourage more union-led protests.

"The country must continue to move forward, work, and face the challenges that await us," Macron said earlier this week.

Despite the resistance, the Macron government has remained steadfast that it will pass the legislation, having failed to do so on previous occasions.

(With inputs from agencies)

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