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[video]http://cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2010/10/22/bittermann.france.retirement.cnn[/video]
Paris, France -- French unions are calling for nationwide strikes Thursday and again next week in a last-ditch effort to derail a pension bill that raises the retirement age from 60 to 62.
The lower house of the parliament approved the controversial pension reform bill Wednesday, and the Senate approved it a day earlier.
But lawmakers can still force the bill to go to the Constitutional Council before it becomes law. It takes 60 legislators to do that. The opposition Socialist party has said it will try that route.
If the law ends up in front of the council, the body has eight days to decide whether it is consistent with the Constitution.
Once that happens -- or if lawmakers do not require the council to consider it -- the bill becomes law when President Nicolas Sarkozy signs it. He said he will not do that before November 15, but has been one of the law's strongest backers.
Six major French unions have called for further nationwide demonstrations Thursday and November 6, saying that protests so far show the people are ready to dig in for the long haul.
The Paris demonstration is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Thursday, and flight cancellations are expected out of Paris airports. The Paris metro is expected to run normally, or nearly so.
The government said the reform is necessary because the current pension system is unaffordable.
Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has said the country cannot continue to pay its debts -- to retirees and others -- by borrowing at current levels. The government has announced it will try to cut the deficit from 8 percent to 6 percent of GDP by next year, an ambitious goal.
Paris, France -- French unions are calling for nationwide strikes Thursday and again next week in a last-ditch effort to derail a pension bill that raises the retirement age from 60 to 62.
The lower house of the parliament approved the controversial pension reform bill Wednesday, and the Senate approved it a day earlier.
But lawmakers can still force the bill to go to the Constitutional Council before it becomes law. It takes 60 legislators to do that. The opposition Socialist party has said it will try that route.
If the law ends up in front of the council, the body has eight days to decide whether it is consistent with the Constitution.
Once that happens -- or if lawmakers do not require the council to consider it -- the bill becomes law when President Nicolas Sarkozy signs it. He said he will not do that before November 15, but has been one of the law's strongest backers.
Six major French unions have called for further nationwide demonstrations Thursday and November 6, saying that protests so far show the people are ready to dig in for the long haul.
The Paris demonstration is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Thursday, and flight cancellations are expected out of Paris airports. The Paris metro is expected to run normally, or nearly so.
The government said the reform is necessary because the current pension system is unaffordable.
Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has said the country cannot continue to pay its debts -- to retirees and others -- by borrowing at current levels. The government has announced it will try to cut the deficit from 8 percent to 6 percent of GDP by next year, an ambitious goal.
