France’s Constitutional Council rejects bid for pension referendum

FrenchFrench President Emmanuel Macron’s deeply unpopular pension law passed another hurdle on Wednesday when the Constitutional Council rejected a second bid by political opponents to hold a referendum on capping the retirement age at 62, reports the Cyprus Mail.

Macron defied fierce trade union opposition and weeks of sometimes violent protests against his plan to raise the retirement age by two years to 64, ramming the legislation through parliament without a final vote and signing it into law last month.

The council said in a statement that the proposed referendum did not meet the legal criteria as defined in the constitution.

Since Macron bypassed parliament, opposition lawmakers have turned to the Constitutional Council twice in an attempt to derail the reform, seeking its approval on each occasion for a referendum on the retirement age.

Read more of this Reuters report published by the Cyprus Mail.