Debate over French President Emmanuel Macron’s contested pension reform legislation starts Thursday in the Senate, where the right – which controls the chamber – is expected to treat the text more favourably than opposition parties did in the National Assembly a fortnight ago.
The government is banking on support from Senators belonging to the conservative Les Republicains (LR) party, who favour raising the minimum legal retirement age from 62 to 64, and having citizens work longer to obtain a full pension.
“The Senate owes it to citizens and social partners to have a debate on the entire text,” said Senate president Gérard Larcher, referring to the National Assembly debate that failed to reach the end of the text before a deadline to send it to the upper house.
Amendments
Opposition MPs introduced over 20,000 amendments to slow down the debate, and the lower chamber only got through two of the legislation’s 20 articles, while missing a vote on the key point of raising the retirement age.
The Senate will therefore be debating the government’s original proposed legislation, with little modification.
The chamber’s LR leadership has scheduled 110 hours of discussion – a third more than in the National Assembly – in order to get through the text by midnight on 12 March.
A unified bloc of green and left-wing Senators vowing to oppose the reform have introduced 4,700 amendments.
The Senate Republicains are more unified than those in the National Assembly and with their allies hold a comfortable majority.
This means they will likely pass the text with some modifications based on their priorities, which include balanced finances and more rights for workers who have children.
"I would like the Senate to enrich this text with what it finds useful,” Macron said this weekend.
Sticking point
The Senate leadership has asked the government to clarify its stance on people who started work very young, and who would reach the maximum number of years paying into the system before the age of 64.
The issue was a sticking point for the National Assembly as well.
Even if the Senate manages to pass a bill by 12 March, it then must be debated by a commission of Senators and MPs who will be tasked with coming up with a compromise text to be submitted to a vote to both chambers.
The debate in the Senate starts as trade unions prepare for a general strike on 7 March.
Unified in their opposition to the reform, unions have promised to “shut down France”, while some transport workers have also warned of an unlimited strike.
(with wires)
