Paris: The main components of President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform were approved by France's constitutional court on Friday, allowing him to implement the unpopular changes that have sparked months of protests and strikes.

The nine-member Constitutional Council decided that important clauses, including raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, were legal and upheld them.

Six minor proposals were turned down, including one that would have required big businesses to disclose the number of people over 55 they employ as well as another that would have created a special contract just for older workers.

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The decision is seen as a victory for Macron, but analysts claim it has come at a significant personal cost to the 45-year-old while wreaking months of havoc on the nation with occasionally violent protests that have injured hundreds.

The president's approval ratings are almost at an all-time low, and many voters were horrified by his choice to ignore dissenting public opinion and ram the pensions law through the lower house of parliament without a vote.

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Four years after a devastating fire destroyed the Gothic masterpiece, Macron declared, "Stay the course, that's my motto," as he surveyed restoration work at the Notre-Dame cathedral on Friday.

Up to 10,000 people are expected to gather once more in Paris on Friday night, and police are bracing for more violence and vandalism due to the presence of several hundred left-wing radicals.

A short distance from the Louvre museum in the heart of the French capital, the Constitutional Council has been fortified with barriers, and dozens of riot police are stationed nearby to keep watch.

With labour leaders declaring they would respect the court's decision on Friday and support among regular workers dwindling, it is unclear whether the months-long effort by trade unions to block the changes will continue.

The battle rages on and needs to intensify," wrote Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, on Twitter.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally (RN), added that the reform's fate was "not sealed" despite Friday's decision.

10,000 tonnes of uncollected trash were left in the streets of Paris due to a garbage workers' strike last month, and regular stoppages have been affecting train services, oil refineries, and schools since January.

The latest day of union-led action saw about 380,000 people take to the streets nationwide on Thursday, according to the interior ministry.

However, that was a small portion of the nearly 1.3 million protesters who turned out in March. The court rejected an attempt by opposition lawmakers to force a referendum on a different pension law that would have kept the retirement age at 62 in a second decision on Friday.

The majority of France's European neighbours, many of which have raised the retirement age to 65 or higher, are ahead of her at the moment. Opponents of the law say it is unfair on unskilled workers who started working early in life, while critics also say it undercuts the right of workers to a long retirement.

Eric Woerth, a senior member of the ruling party, spoke on behalf of many of the government's supporters on Friday when he expressed his hope that eventually the country would recognise the need for the change but admitted that "we have not convinced people." Two-thirds of French people, according to polls, are opposed to working for another two years.

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The French pension system required unpopular decisions to preserve it, he said on Europe 1 radio. "Once the volcano has cooled down and people look at things with a bit more distance, maybe in the back of their minds they'll say,'maybe they were right'," he said.

According to government statistics, annual pension deficits are projected to reach 13.5 billion euros by 2030, and Macron has repeatedly called the change "necessary" to prevent them.

"I'm proud of the French social model, and I defend it, but if we want to make it sustainable, we have to produce more," he said on a visit to the Netherlands on Wednesday.

"The nation needs to be reindustrialized. Both the unemployment rate and the amount of work being produced in the nation must be reduced. It includes the reform of pensions.