The government in France has pushed through controversial pension reforms to hike the country’s retirement age to 64 from 62.

President Emmanuel Macron is set to use special constitutional powers to put the new pension reform bill in force, according to an announcement in the National Assembly on Thursday by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.

“We cannot bet on the future of our pensions,” the PM said to jeers from lawmakers. “This reform is necessary.”

Labour leaders throughout the country called for fresh demonstrations after Borne’s announcement, with thousands gathering at Place de la Concorde in Paris and other cities on Thursday night, CNN reports.

Borne said she would invoke article 49.3 of the constitution to avoid a vote on the reforms.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen subsequently called for Borne’s resignation. “This last-minute resort to 49.3 is an extraordinary sign of weakness,” she said, going on to add: “She must go.”

This was echoed by the head of the CFDT union, Laurent Berger: “By resorting to [constitutional article] 49.3, the government demonstrates that it does not have a majority to approve the two-year postponement of the legal retirement age.”

Huge protests have been held in France since the middle of January against the pension reform plans. Yet the government said the reform is essential to bolster the pension system’s finances over the next few years.

“The aim is to balance the accounts without raising taxes or cutting pensions. Various options are on the table, but all include raising the retirement age,” government spokesman Olivier Veran said back in January, Reuters reports.

France spends more than the majority of other countries on pensions, with one of the lowest retirement ages in the world, at close to 14% of economic output, says the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.