Pension reform continues on its way. After being presented by Elisabeth Borne in the Council of Ministers this Monday, January 23, 2023, the government project will pass into the hands of the National Assembly where it must be examined in committee from January 30. In the Hemicycle, more than 7,000 amendments to the text of the law have already been tabled. Of these, 6,600 concern the Social Affairs Committee, and 400 are addressed to the Finance Committee.

In the streets, the protest continues. Thursday, January 24, a torchlight march took place in Paris, organized by the CGT, FO, FSU and Solidaires unions. People also demonstrated in Rouen, Marseille and Dijon. A taste of the strike on Tuesday January 31, when the inter-union hopes for a stronger mobilization than on January 19.

Several sectors are ready to claim their disagreement with the government’s pension reform: education, public services, transport, refineries, energy, ski resorts… And town halls. The city councilor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo (PS), announced that she would symbolically close the doors of the town hall of the capital today, out of solidarity. An act on the initiative of Fabien Roussel (PCF), and followed by several other town halls in France.

Traveling to a cooking school in Paris, Olivier Véran admitted that the project was not very successful: “Our message is still struggling to get across,” said the government spokesperson.

Only here: the executive must not be content to convince the deputies. Once passed, the reform will be in the hands of the Constitutional Council, which may not see favorably certain articles of the project.

The future of the pension reform will largely depend on the opinion of the Constitutional Council. In the columns of La Dépêche, Anne-Charlène Bezzina, political scientist and constitutional expert, mentions in particular the use of the amending budget of Social Security to pass the bill. “The Constitutional Council should agree. But it will still have to justify how the government is legitimate in this area,” she said.

However, some items could be problematic. “I expect the Council to censor several articles. Especially since the government seems to have decided to make a catch-all law. I think it has not prepared things well”, comments the specialist. What are the items in question?

In the columns of our colleagues, Anne-Charlène Bezzina recalls that a financing law should only concern the purpose for which it is made. “The Constitutional Council is very hard, inflexible on this point, it is an obsession for him”, assures the political scientist.

Is this the case for the pension reform? Not sure, for the constitutionalist. “The reform project contains elements, for example on the employability of seniors or equal pay between men and women, which do not concern the balance of social finances”, she concludes.