French Constitutional Court clears way to raise retirement age from 60 to 62

2010-11-09 20:15:43 GMT+7 (ICT)

PARIS (BNO NEWS) -- France's Constitutional Court on Tuesday approved a pension reform bill to raise public sector retirement age from 60 to 62, paving the way for President Nicolas Sarkozy to sign it into law.

The French pension reform was passed on October 27 after the National Assembly voted 336 in favor and 233 against.

French trade unions along other organizations and society sectors participated in a series of nationwide protests last month, before the final vote, that paralyzed the country and caused a severe fuel shortage nationwide.

After the final approval by the parliament, the opposition parties appealed the law to the country's constitutional court.

However, French trade unions on Monday called for a new set of nationwide protests against the reform, after they decided to "keep up the mobilization in unity with a day of national cross-profession mobilization on November 23."

The latest protest took place last Saturday but participation decreased to about a third from the mid-October massive protests that disrupted France's main cities.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2010-11-09

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