French government raises retirement age as strikes grind on

Major unions were quick to reject government proposals and vowed to strike on.

Edouard Philippe (Thomas Samson/Pool via AP)

By Thomas Adamson and Sylvie Corbet, Associated Press

France’s prime minister has said the full retirement age will be increased for the country’s youngest, but offered concessions in an ill-fated effort to calm a nationwide protest against pension reforms that critics say will erode the nation’s way of life.

The government is trying to make the pensions system sustainable and simpler but is facing huge public pressure, including a week of the most debilitating transport strikes in decades.