Massive street protests planned for next week will not dent the French government's resolve to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, the country's labour minister has said.
Trade unions have planned demonstrations and strikes for next Tuesday and urged private and public-sector employees, the jobless, young people and retired workers to join in.
The government expects a strong turnout and respects the people's right to take to the streets, Labour Minister Eric Woerth claimed.
But he maintained the government's inflexible line on the issue. "At the same time, I say to myself, that's not what's going to make us change the pension reform," said Mr Woerth. "Because if we change our reform fundamentally, at the end there is no pension reform."
The plan, which goes before parliament on the same day as the demonstrations, aims to cut France's ballooning deficit and make the pension system break even by 2018.
But the majority of French citizens see retirement at 60 as a pillar of the social welfare benefits that underpin modern France.
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