The French Senate, with a right-wing majority, voted this morning to postpone the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64, the main point of President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform.
After midnight, 201 senators ruled in favor of article 7 of the bill, which increases the retirement age by two years, while 115 ruled against and 29 abstained.
The vote came at the end of a 15-hour parliamentary marathon of discussion on that article, with the left presenting hundreds of amendments to prevent debate and the right resorting to an exceptional device to overcome them.
The Labor Minister, Olivier Dussopt, was satisfied but cautious, aware that this partial evolution of his project is based on the support of the right, which will be essential for it to advance in the conciliation phase between the two parliamentary chambers.
Dussopt considered that it is “a vote of responsibility of the Senate, which chose to follow the Government”, and expressed the wish that all the articles can be discussed and approved before the deadline for processing in the Senate, at midnight. Sunday.
In addition to this vote and the parliamentary process, which could end next week, the big obstacle for Macron are the street protests, organized by all the unions, united in an unprecedented unity in France.
Last Tuesday, the sixth day of demonstrations was the largest since the beginning of the movement in January due to the number of protesters: 1.28 million, according to the Ministry of the Interior, 3.5 million, according to the CGT, the union center. French.
More actions are planned for Saturday and Wednesday, requesting an emergency meeting with Emmanuel Macron, who demand the withdrawal of the reform project.
Meanwhile, strikes continue in some sectors, notably public transport and energy.
In transport, today and Friday 20% of flights will be canceled at Charles de Gaulle airport and 30% at Orly, the second airport in Paris, as well as in Beauvais, Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Marseille, Montpellier , Nice. and Toulouse.
France is one of the countries in Europe where the retirement age is among the lowest, and the pension systems are not fully comparable. The Government justified the increase in the retirement age to respond to the financial degradation of pension funds and the aging of the population.
Source: TSF
