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, reports RFI.
The government is banking on support from Senators belonging to the conservative Les Républicains (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.
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.