**French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet key unions later to discuss controversial plans to reform the country’s pensions system.**The government wants to cut the pension burden on the state, with one option being raising the retirement age.
However, unions have already voiced their opposition to any such move and threatened a major dispute.
The retirement age in France is currently 60, much lower than in many other European countries.
In Germany and Denmark, the retirement age is 67, while Britain is planning to increase it to 68.
The French government has said its pension deficit will be 10.7bn euros ($14.6bn; £9.3bn) this year, and rise to 50bn euros by 2020.
Baby boom
Mr Sarkozy had hoped to postpone pension reform until after the next presidential election in 2012, but the global downturn has forced the issue back up the political agenda.
France’s growing national debt level means the government needs to cut spending levels.
The problem is compounded by the large number of people set to retire in the coming years.
“It’s urgent now because of the demographics,” Professor Laurent Marouani at HEC Business School told the BBC.
“Now, many people born between 1945 and 1952 are going to retire, so it’s becoming urgent because how are we going to pay for these people in two to three years”