France's Constitutional Council backs plans to raise legal retirement age

France's Constitutional Council ruled on Friday in favor of gradually raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030, reported Xinhua.

"The Constitutional Council notes that, by adopting the contested provisions, the legislature intended to ensure the financial balance of the pay-as-you-go pension system, so as to guarantee its sustainability," the Council said.

The ruling confirmed most of the contested provisions of the French government's pension reform bill, including raising the retirement age and ending most of the special pension schemes.

The pension reform, which French President Emmanuel Macron can now enact, will gradually raise the legal retirement age at the rate of three months per year until 2030.

It will also guarantee a minimum pension of 1,200 euros net per month for those who have and will have contributed 43 years to the pension system.

As for the request for a shared initiative referendum (RIP) filed by left wing politicians to fix the legal retirement age at 62, the Constitutional Council rejected it.

Soon after the ruling of the Constitutional Council, spontaneous protests broke out across France.

Major trade unions issued a joint press release Friday evening asking "solemnly" the French president not to promulgate the pension reform law, which according to them, is "the only way" to calm the violent protests in France.