Status: 03/12/2023 01:01 a.m
The controversial pension reform has cleared the first hurdle in France with the Senate: But the National Assembly must also agree. Hundreds of thousands demonstrated again on Saturday against the reform.
Despite the ongoing protests, France’s Senate voted in favor of the planned pension reform in the first reading. 195 senators voted in favor, 112 against, 37 abstained. It is a first success for the government under President Emmanuel Macron.
The reform provides for gradually raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. The number of payment years required for a full pension is also expected to increase more rapidly. Although the official retirement age in France is 62, retirement often begins later. Those who have not paid in long enough to be entitled to a full pension work longer.
At the age of 67 there is a pension without deductions, regardless of how long you have paid in. The government intends to keep it that way. She wants to increase the monthly minimum pension to around 1,200 euros.
Accelerated procedure in Parliament
The reform is going through the parliament in an accelerated procedure. The text was passed to the Senate without a first-reading vote on the entire reform in the National Assembly. A commission of MPs and senators is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to find a compromise between the National Assembly and the Senate. Both chambers of Parliament must then agree.
The center government does not have an absolute majority in the National Assembly. She is hoping for the votes of the conservative Républicains for the reform. While the conservatives in the Senate now agreed, the faction in the lower house was recently divided. There is therefore speculation as to whether the government will resort to a special article in the constitution and ultimately push the law through without a vote by the National Assembly.
The government is hoping for final approval next Thursday. President Macron has been criticized for largely staying out of the pension reform debate. The unions recently asked to speak to Macron.
Hundreds of thousands protest against the reform
Now trade union representatives brought a referendum into play. “If he’s so sure, the president just has to ask the population,” said Philippe Martinez of the CGT union. In polls, a large majority had repeatedly spoken out against the reform.
Hundreds of thousands of people followed the unions’ calls for protests on Saturday. There were larger rallies in cities such as Paris, Nice and Toulouse. The Interior Ministry spoke of 368,000 participants nationwide, the CGT union of more than a million. Strikes again led to cancellations and disruptions in air and train traffic.