FRENCH lawmakers are set to vote today over the proposals from President Emmanuel Macron’s government to raise the country’s retirement age from 62 to 64.

This comes after French trade unions staged the fifth set of nationwide demonstrations against the unpopular scheme that has seen millions of workers take to the streets in opposition.

Recent polls showed that two out of three French citizens oppose the proposed changes.

Trade unions organised the biggest marches in the town of Albi to show that protests are not limited to Paris or the big cities, as supporters of Mr Macron allege. Last Saturday around 6,000 of the 50,000 population of Albi took to the streets in opposition to the proposals.

“We want to focus on one of the highlights of this social movement. Some French workers do not live in metropolises and want to claim that they are present,” Laurent Berger of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour said.

Mr Macron has continued to claim that the changes are needed to ensure pension arrangements in France remain viable.

But the president will need the support of other parties to win the National Assembly vote as his Renaissance Party lost its overall majority at last year’s general election.