On Wednesday the debate of the mixed commission will begin, and from Thursday it will be possible to vote in both chambers. Unions have already called for more protests.
The French Senate approved late this Saturday the controversial pension reform project promoted by the Government of Emmanuel Macron, despite strong popular discontent, which experienced a new chapter this Saturday with the seventh day of mobilizations called by the unions .
The text, which was debated by an accelerated procedure activated by the Executive to avoid numerous amendments filed by the opposition to hinder the debate, received the support of 195 senators and 112 votes against.
The first reactions of the Government celebrating the decision did not wait and, just a few minutes after the vote, the French Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, celebrated the “decisive step” towards a reform that “will guarantee the future” of French pensions.
The Macronist bloc benefited from the positioning in favor of the conservatives of Los Republicanos, whose leader, Bruno Retailleau, defended a reform of the retirement system as something imperative to save it from “demographic shock” that the evolution of the population will imply in the coming years.
In the opposite camp, the socialist senator Monique Lubin assured, in her last turn to speak, that this Saturday will remain a “black day for all wage earners” in the country.
Next steps
The text of the pension reform will be debated on the 15th in a mixed joint commission to agree on a common version that must then be validated, starting on March 16, by both chambers.
In the National Assembly, which previously failed to vote on the entire bill at first reading, the vote is expected to be tight.
At the earliest, the final vote would be possible that same day and the maximum period is until March 26, at the end of the day.
The main axis of the reform promoted by Macron is to delay the minimum retirement age by two years, from the current 62 years to 64.
Demonstration in Baiona. Photo: EITB
protests
The debate this Saturday was held while, in the streets, thousands of citizens came out to protest against the reform called by all the unions, who reject this reform head-on.
It was the seventh day of mobilizations since the Executive revealed the details of the project.
For next Wednesday, coinciding with the examination in joint joint commission, the unions have already called for a new day of mobilizations.
Source: Eitb
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