Pension reform before the French Constitutional Council: constitutional trial or trial of the Constitutional Council?

The Constitutional Council's decision no. 2023-849 DC of 14 April 2023 on the conformity with the Constitution of the law reforming pensions to raise the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 has generated a great deal of ink and unprecedented interest. The political context largely explains this interest, especially as on the same day -14th April- the French Constitutional Court was also due to rule on the admissibility of a draft law also relating to the retirement age, promoted by the opposition and aimed at prohibiting, by referendum, the setting of a retirement age beyond the age of 62. On each occasion, the sometimes violent criticism levelled at the Constitutional Council's rulings stems above all from the excessive expectations attached to its interventions. The solutions it adopts, largely predictable in that they confirm the prerogatives of the government within the framework of the legislative procedure, also illustrate the limits of constitutional review.