On Monday evening, President Emmanuel Macron will address the nation for the first time since signing his controversial pension reform into law. The French leader has been warned by political and trade union opponents that the crisis sparked by the changes is far from over.
President Macron will address France on the crisis on Monday evening.
Government spokesman Olivier Veran said Macron's speech would be in the spirit of "pacification".
The publication of the text in France's official journal on Saturday came just hours after the approval by the Constitutional Council of the essence of the legislation, including the headline change of raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.
Following the announcement, violence was reported at a demonstration in Rennes on Saturday where businesses were vandalized, two cars burned in addition to clashes with the police.
Unions leaders and opposition MPs lost no time in accusing Macron of showing "contempt" for those behind a three-month protest movement.
They immediately rejected an offer for talks on Tuesday, saying they would only meet after 1st May when a new wave of strikes and rallies has been planned.
As a prelude to this, railway unions have called for a day of "railway anger" on 20 April.
Umpteenth provocation
The rapid publication of the pension reform was "totally shameful", chief of the CGT Sophie Binet told the media.
Macron "is becoming the president of chaos", opening the doors to the far-right National Rally, she added, insisting on a "tidal wave" for the next days of protests. The CGT mentioned actions in all sectors on Thursday, as well as on 28 April.
Far-right MP Marine Le Pen called Macron's move at the weekend an "umpteenth provocation against the French", while far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon called it an "absurd display of arrogance".
Socialist deputies and senators have planned to table a legislative text asking for the repeal of the reform.
LFI deputy Eric Coquerel told French agency AFP that his group had initiated discussions with the independents of Liot and the whole of Nupes alliance with a view to a potential filing of a motion of censure.
Accelerate reforms
Meanwhile Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne vowed Saturday the government would press ahead with more reforms.
"We are determined to accelerate" the pace of reforms, she told the national council of Macron's Renaissance party on Sunday.
"We want to build a France of full employment, to guarantee equal opportunity," she said.
Olivier Véran confirmed that the gradual transition to the retirement age from 62 to 64 would begin in September.
The reassessment of certain small retirement pensions will be launched at the same time.
