Talks between French unions and prime minister fail ahead of fresh protests on Thursday

Last-ditch talks between French unions and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne over pension reforms have failed, the unions informed on Wednesday. Following the latest disappointment, the French unions called for record turnout at protest rallies the next day. The meeting was the first between the unions and the government ever since the contentious pensions bill was introduced by the government in January.

The talks lasted barely an hour and all union leaders echoed that the meeting had been a failure. Soon after the talks failed, CGT activists hung a banner reading "64, it's no" from the top of the capital's Arc de Triomphe monument.

The pension reforms have proven to be President Emmanuel Macron's biggest challenge during his second term. The pension overhaul will increase the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 for all French citizens. The government says the change is necessary to balance the pension budget in years to come. The unions say the money can be found elsewhere.

People have been angry over the pension reforms ever since Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on March 16 invoked a controversial executive order to move the bill through parliament without a vote, ignoring months of mass protests against it.

Ahead of Wednesday's talks with Borne, unions had warned that they would storm out if the government doesn't agree to pull the plug on increasing the retirement age.

"It's clearly a failure when the prime minister won't even allow a way into that discussion," said Cyril Chabanier, speaking on behalf of the country's eight main unions.

"We again told the prime minister that the only democratic outcome could be the text's withdrawal. The prime minister replied that she wished to maintain the text," he added.

Borne, meanwhile, said that she is open to talks but will not back down on the retirement age.

(With inputs from agencies)

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