French top court to have final say on pensions reform

PARIS—France’s top constitutional court is to rule Friday on whether to approve President Emmanuel Macron’s deeply unpopular pensions overhaul after months of protests.

The 45-year-old centrist leader is facing a major domestic crisis over his flagship pensions reform, whose headline measure is to raise the legal retirement age to 64 from 62.

Some demonstrations have turned violent since Macron’s government forced the bill through parliament last month without a vote, using an executive power that is legal but has sparked accusations of undemocratic behaviour from opponents.

The Constitutional Council’s green light is the final hurdle before Macron can sign the changes into law and ensure they are implemented by year-end.

But labour unions and opposition lawmakers hope for a rejection of a reform that Macron put at the heart of his re-election campaign last year for a second term in office.

Some 380,000 people took to the streets nationwide on Thursday in the latest day of union-led action against the bill since January, according to the interior ministry.

But that was far fewer that the nearly 1.3 million it said demonstrated at the height of the protests in March.

Momentum has petered out in recent weeks as people appear to become increasingly weary of sacrificing a day’s pay to strike or march.

- Partial approval? Paris police have banned any demonstration around the Constitutional Council in Paris until Saturday morning.

The court is to issue two decisions by the end of the day.

First, the nine-member council is to rule on whether the pensions overhaul, which has been formulated as a social security budget law, is in line with the constitution.

Experts think the most likely scenario is that it will partially approve the bill.