He French Constitutional Council this Friday endorsed the key measures of President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform, a decision that sparked an immediate reaction of rejection in the streets after months of protests.

The decision was greeted with boos from the demonstrators who had gathered in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in Paris. “Constitutional or not, we don’t want this law,” “We will continue until its repeal,” and “Macron Out,” echoed in the streets.

With this, in 2030 the minimum retirement age will be 64 yearsdespite continued rejection since January by the unions and a majority of French people, according to polls.

The nine members of the institution They also rejected a request from the left-wing opposition to call a referendum to limit the retirement age to 62a measure that could have reversed the social conflict.

The World Bank recommends increasing the number of working years to maintain the economically active population

On the other hand, the Constitutional Council annulled certain elements of the reform, such as the obligation for large companies to declare how many older workers they have hiredbut the main points proposed by Macron were validated.

“If there is censorship on certain points (…) but not on 64 years, it will not serve to solve the social conflict,” the leader of the moderate trade union CFDT, Laurent Berger, warned on Friday morning.

Demonstrations continue

The tension is still present in the streets of France. Since March 7, when between 1.2 and 3.5 million people demonstrated, there have been fewer marches, according to the authorities and the CGT respectively, but the intensity is threatening to increase. On Friday morning, there were again blockades at the entrances to Rouen (northwest) and at a food platform in Strasbourg (northeast).

The unions had already warned that regardless of the decision, the social conflict would not end.