French Strike Over Plan to Raise Retirement Age

Coming soon to a country near you. 

Strikes across France delayed flights, closed schools and frustrated commuters Thursday as workers protested government plans to raise the retirement age past 60 — one of the lowest even in Europe.

President Nicolas Sarkozy says retiring so young is now untenable given growing life spans, but unions see his planned reforms to France’s over-stretched pension system as yet another blow to Europe’s cherished social model.

His government wants to raise the retirement age to 61 or 62 — reforms that have been under discussion since well before the current European debt crisis. Sarkozy has called them his main priority this year.