We won’t back down on raising retirement age, says French PM

FRANCE’S prime minister yesterday ruled out backtracking on a plan to raise the retirement age as unions prepared for another day of mass protests against the contested reform.

An increase in the minimum retirement age to 64 from the current 62 is part of a package pushed by Emmanuel Macron, the president, to ensure the financing of France’s pensions system.

After over a million people took to the streets in union protests against the change on Jan 19, the government signalled that there was wiggle room on some measures.

These included the number of contributing years needed to qualify for a full pension, special deals for people who started working very young and provisions for mothers who interrupted their careers to look after their children.

But the headline age limit of 64 is not up for discussion, Elisabeth Borne, the prime minister, said yesterday.

“This is now non-negotiable,” she told the broadcaster Franceinfo.

While unions have welcomed the government’s readiness for negotiation on parts of the plan, they say the proposed minimum age of 64 has to go.

Calling the reform “unfair”, France’s eight major unions, in a rare show of unity, said they hoped to “mobilise even more massively” tomorrow – their next scheduled protest day – than at the showing earlier this month.

Celine Verzeletti, a member of the hard-left union CGT’S confederation leadership, said: “It’s looking like there will be even more people.”

Some 200 protests are organised countrywide, with a big march planned for Paris, culminating in a demonstration outside the National Assembly where parliamentary commissions are to start examining the draft law today.

In addition to protest marches, unions have called for widespread strike action for tomorrow, with railway services and public transport expected to be heavily affected.

Stoppages are also expected in schools and administrations, with some local authorities having already announced closures of public spaces such as sports stadiums. The Left-wing opposition has submitted 7,000 amendments to the draft, in a bid to slow its path through parliament.