THE leader of the French Communists has refused to meet with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and — called for parliamentarians to march on the Elysee Palace to demand the scrapping of pension reforms.

Ms Borne has insisted she intends to press ahead with the unpopular changes, which raise the pension age from 62 to 64.

In an interview for France Inter television yesterday, French Communist Party general secretary Fabien Roussel said: “I tell the Prime Minister to hear our anger as parliamentarians.”

On the use of a constitutional clause by the prime minister to force through the proposals without a vote, Mr Roussel said: “I was elected less than a year ago and I have already been deprived of my vote 11 times! 

“We do not feel respected.”

Mr Roussel said that Ms Borne had told him during a telephone call that she did not intend “to put the reform on hold,” at the meeting.

“I warned her of the risk of social chaos in the country if the government remained intransigent.”

He said he and his fellow parliamentarians would march from the National Assembly to the residence of French president, Emmanuel Macron, to demand that he drop the plans.