France's Constitutional Council on Friday, April 14, approved the key elements of President Emmanuel Macron's controversial pension reform, while rejecting certain parts of the legislation,
Le Monde reports.
The banner reform in the legislation to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 was validated by the Constitutional Council after almost three months of protests opposing the measure.
Macron can enact the bill within 15 days.
The court struck out six measures not seen as fundamental to the essence of the reform and threw out a request filed by the left for a referendum on an alternative pension law that would keep the retirement age at 62. The council will rule on a similar request next month.
French hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon vowed that the fight against Macron's pension reform would continue despite a top court's approval of the main changes.
"The fight continues and must gather force," the leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) party said on Twitter. Far-right Rassemblement National (RN) figurehead Marine Le Pen added that the fate of the reform was "not sealed" despite the decision.
In a last-ditch effort, French trade unions urged Macron not to sign his reform into law.
"Given the massive [public] rejection of this reform, the unions request him solemnly to not promulgate this law, the only way to calm the anger which is being expressed in the country," reads a joint statement sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
