French president vows to raise retirement age to 65, up from 62

In order to encourage younger generations to work longer, French president Emmanuel Macron vowed to pursue a pension reform that would gradually raise the retirement age by three years to 65.

Macron said the changes would start being implementednext year, in an interview on France 2 television.

“There’s only one way to do it if we are lucid. Since we are living longer, it’s to work longer,” he said.

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Macron nonetheless declared himself "open" to discussing and perhaps amending the retirement age with unions.

People with sufficient years of employment would be subject to such measures. People who don't meet the requirements have to work until 67 at the moment, likemany women who take time off from work to raise their children.

French workers are all eligible for a state pension. As perMacron, the government would have to reduce pension benefits if these reforms weren't made.

Macron's remarks follow the loss of the legislative majority suffered by his centrist coalition in June, which made it considerably harder for his government to pass legislation in the lower house of parliament. The majority of opposition parties and labour organisations are against the pension changes.

On Wednesday, Macron made the offer to work with Republican legislators to carry internal reforms, such as the pension overhaul, through parliament.

Earlier this week, opposition MPs from the far-left and left used three no-confidence motions to challenge the use of a unique constitutional authority to ram budget bills through the National Assembly.

During Macron's first term, a proposed pension revision had provoked widespread strikes and protests near the end 2019. In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, the government made the decision to halt the discussion. In April, Macron won reelection to a second term.

(With inputs from agencies)

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