Following a vote by Members of Parliament today, France's legal retirement age will be raised gradually from 60 to 62, and the legal retirement age will be raised by four months every year until 2018. The vote took place just days after a national strike against changes to the retirement law.
French workers have been able to retire at 60 since 1983, when then president François Mitterrand lowered the age from 65.The age to retire on a full pension, whether a person has made a full contribution to their state pension or not, will also rise from 65-67 between 2016 and 2023.
Two other measures aimed at those in the civil service were also passed during the National Assembly sessions which took place last Friday. Civil servants who can currently retire at 60 will see this raised to 62 and those who are parents of three children or more will lose their privilege to retire after just 15 years of service.
Former presidential candidate Ségolène Royal told France 2 that if the Socialist Party was elected in 2012 it would restore the ages to their current levels. "If the government doesn't step down, in 2012 we will make them step down," she said.Expatica.com reports that the proposals must still be voted through by the Senate before becoming law - therefore union leaders have called for a huge turnout in a strike organised for September 23. CFDT general secretary François Chérèque told Europe 1: "If I thought that all was lost, I would not call on the French to strike again."
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