The law on the controversial reform of France’s pension system, which mainly increases the retirement age by two years, was signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, according to today’s Government Gazette.

Macron signed the bill, which now becomes law, after the French Constitutional Council approved yesterday, Friday, the main measure of the reform, that is to raise the retirement age limit to 64 years from the current 62 .

Macron’s controversial bill was adopted on March 20 after weeks of protests and fruitless debates in the National Assembly.

For its adoption, a constitutional mechanism was used that allowed it without the vote of the parliament. The result was to worsen relations between the head of state and the social partners.

After the Constitutional Council’s decision, unions asked President Macron not to ratify it, while France’s biggest opposition parties said they were determined to continue their fight against the reform.

“There is neither a winner nor a loser,” assured French Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne, speaking of “the end of the institutional and democratic course” of this text, which was adopted by the National Assembly after recourse to Article “49.3” of the French Constitution , which allows bills to be passed without a vote.