Protesters blocked roads and industrial sites in some parts of France on Friday as the country’s top constitutional court prepares to give its verdict on Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plans to raise the pension age from 62 to 64.
Access to the city centres of Marseille and Rouen was restricted, and an industrial estate in Le Havre and other sites near Strasbourg and Lille were blocked.
In Paris, armed riot police were on standby near the heavily guarded building of the constitutional council, a nine-member body that decides whether legislation is in line with the constitution. All street demonstrations were banned in the area, some metro stations were closed and three-metre high security screens were put in place.
The council will announce late on Friday afternoon whether it has approved Macron’s pensions changes, after the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, requested its view. The government hopes this could put an end to months of protests over Macron’s plans to increase the minimum eligible pension age.
If the constitutional council approves the bill, it would pave the way for it be swiftly signed into law and come into effect by the end of the year.
The government is looking for a way to end almost three months of protests, which at times have culminated in violence and running battles with police. They have focused a sense of widespread anger against Macron, with protesters saying they want to protect France’s broader social welfare system and public services.
The government argues that raising the minimum eligible age for a state pension is necessary to keep the system afloat as the population ages.
When the government used an executive order to push through the pension changes without a parliamentary vote last month, protests increased and demonstrators, including many students, said they were angry at a political system that did not listen to concerns on the street.
Lawyers complained that protests were policed in a heavy-handed way. Polls have shown that two-thirds of the French public are against the pension changes.
Constitutional experts have said it is unlikely that the council will strike down Macron’s entire set of pensions changes. It is thought more likely that some measures designed to boost employment for older workers will be rejected on the grounds that they do not belong in legislation which was tacked on to a social security budget bill, but the rise in the pension age to 64 is expected to be upheld.
If the council does strike out the whole package of changes, it would be a severe blow to Macron and the government.
The council will also rule on a request by politicians on the left for a citizens’ referendum on the pensions plans. If approved, opposition parties would need to gather nearly 5m signatures in favour of holding a referendum, a process which would last nine months and hang over the government.
“It would place a sword of Damocles [above our heads] for nine months. It wouldn’t be easy, but we wouldn’t be paralysed like we have been during the last few weeks,” one government source told Reuters.
