French lawmakers reach agreement on eve of decisive vote on pension reform

by time news

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Negotiations on the Social Security reform project advanced this Wednesday (15th), with the approval by the Joint Joint Commission (CMP) of senators and deputies of the most controversial measure in the document, on the eve of the decisive vote of senators and deputies. Meanwhile, the demonstrations had less support in the streets of the main French cities, but some categories remain mobilized.

The most sensitive point of the project regarding the increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64 years old was validated, without surprises, in the CMP. The seven deputies and seven senators adopted the famous Article 7.

“Through this commitment, they respond to the request of the French to build joint solutions for the country,” French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Twitter.


About 1.7 million demonstrators marched in France on Wednesday against pension reform, according to unions, and 480,000, according to the interior ministry, for the eighth day of action against pension reform.

A number greater than on the seventh day, Saturday (12), when just over a million people marched, according to unions, but less than on March 7, when more than three million took to the streets.

The mobilization continues in the refineries, in the urban cleaning service and among air traffic controllers, who remain on strike.

“Tied Agreement”

In the Assembly, the leader of the deputies of the radical left party, France Insubmissa, Mathilde Panot, denounced “an agreement that was already tied up” and “an absurd climate, as if there were no social movement”.

The project, which puts President Emmanuel Macron’s political power at stake, should be voted on this Thursday morning in the Senate. For approval, the right and center must vote in favor.

In the afternoon, the project returns for a last vote in the Assembly, by the deputies, where a great suspense remains.

Deputies from the right-wing Republican party are divided. The acronym’s votes are crucial for the presidential field, which only has a relative majority in the Assembly. If an absolute majority is not guaranteed, the executive could be tempted to use Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows a text to be adopted without a vote.

The French president meets this Wednesday night with his prime minister and some of the main ministers responsible for the reform. But he does not plan “at this stage” to adopt the text without a vote, according to sources in the presidential camp.

(With information from AFP)

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