Macron: ‘Start work at 20 and you can retire aged 63’

PRESIDENT Emmanuel Macron’s government yesterday offered a concession on French pension reforms that have riled voters, reducing the age of retirement for those who start their careers early.

In a last-ditch effort to head off more strikes this week, prime minister Élisabeth Borne said those who began working at the ages of 20-21 will be entitled to retire at the age of 63 rather than 64.

The last-minute offer was announced on the eve of the reforms being presented to the National Assembly today, when it will be debated over the next two weeks, and ahead of a third day of national strikes scheduled tomorrow.

The government’s proposal to push the age of legal retirement from the age of 62 to 64 mobilised more than a million protesters to the streets on two separate strike days last month, causing major disruptions to public transport, schools and the energy sectors.

A fourth day of protests scheduled for Saturday has divided unions and the public as it falls on a weekend and marks the start of the winter school break in France. Another round of transport strikes threatens to derail holiday plans, which could dampen public support for the ongoing protests.

Unions are hoping for an unprecedented turnout from the public on Saturday. The latest polling from Ipsos and France Info last week shows growing anger against the reforms, with 64 per cent opposed to the changes, an increase of three points in a matter of a few weeks.

Ms Borne’s modification was made partly to appease the Republican party which is largely favourable to the government’s retirement reform plan, and is the government’s best chance at passing the Bill.

In a Le Parisien interview, Éric Ciotti, the Republican party leader, said that “a large majority of the group” was ready to support the Bill if it allowed early career workers to retire quicker.

Ms Borne said the measure would cost €600 million to €1 billion (£538 million to £897 million) a year and would involve up to 300,000 people a year.

Although re-elected last year, Mr Macron lost his parliamentary majority so has to cobble together compromises or push through laws using an unpopular constitutional side door.