PARIS, June 2 (Reuters) – French Employment Minister Olivier Dussopt – who has played a key role in President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to push through an unpopular change to the pension system – will face a court hearing in November over allegations of favouritism, France’s financial prosecutor said on Friday.

Officials at Dussopt’s office could not be reached for comment, while an official at Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne’s office said Dussopt continued to have her backing.

The allegations of favouritism relate to the awarding of a water contract back in 2009, before Dussopt took up his current ministerial role and when he was a local mayor.

Dussopt had played a prominent role during parliamentary debates this year as Macron’s government signed into law the decision to raise the French state pension age to 64 from 62, in spite of violent street protests against it.

Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Zhifan Liu and Elizabeth Pineau;
Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Angus MacSwan

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