French President Nicolas Sarkozy is celebrating a significant victory today as his controversial plan to increase the age of retirement from 60 to 62 became law.Numerous disruptive strikes and street protests were held in an attempt to halt the austerity measure but the law was published in the government's official journal today – meaning Mr Sarkozy has signed it and it has gone into effect.
The reform means the minimum retirement age is now 62 instead of 60. Those who want to claim full pension benefits must now wait until age 67 instead of 65.
The Unions had argued retirement at 60 was a cornerstone of France's social security system, but the government responded by saying the pension system would have been jeopardised without the change because French people are living longer.
But Mr Sarkozy proclaimed today that the French pension system had been "saved" commenting that "[I am] fully aware that this is a difficult reform, but I always considered that my duty, and the duty of the government, was to carry it out."
Nonetheless it remains a small, albeit significant, victory for Mr Sarkozy as his finds his approval rating hovering around the 35% mark - their lowest levels since he took office in 2007.
Which the French protested this move, across the Channel the retirement age in the UK is much higher, currently 65, although the coalition government has announced it will increase to 66 by 2020.
