ALBAWABA - On Wednesday night, the French Senate approved the article that provides for raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 years, as part of a draft law to amend the pension system, despite the widespread protests that prevail in different parts of France against it.
French media reported that 201 members voted in favor of raising the retirement age, while 115 members voted against it.
French Senate approves most controversial clause of pension reform - #pension #clause #senate https://t.co/y6KAx2QY4h
— IdeallyaNews (@IdeallyaNews) March 9, 2023
The approval of the article comes despite mass demonstrations taking place in France, in which more than a million people participated, to protest the reform of the retirement system in France.
However, the French government is counting on this reform to ensure the financing of the social security system, which is said to be one of the pillars of the French social model.
According to the information circulated, the session witnessed a sharp bickering between the left-wing opposition and the ruling right. The latter is said to be dominating the Senate.
France’s conservative-dominated Senate has voted by 201 votes to 115 to raise the retirement age by two years to 64, as the government moves to overhaul the country’s pensions system in the face of strong opposition from labour unions. https://t.co/JqjtzLw8og
— Chief-Exec.com (@Chief_Exec_com) March 9, 2023
The draft law provides for gradually raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years, by 3 months annually, as of September 1, 2023, until 2030.
It also provides for an increase in the required social security contributions period from 42 years to 43 years.
The protesters consider the article, which has been approved, unfair to employees working in difficult jobs.
As a result of the protests, which was Wednesday its seventh day after the unions agreed on holding protests on various separate days, the movement of trains and the Paris metro suffered from severe disruption, as one out of every three trains across the country was running.
The trains heading to Spain stopped, and some cancellations affected trains heading to and from Britain and Belgium too. While some flights were canceled at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.
In addition, oil shipments in the country stopped, and garbage collectors participated in the strike, along with teachers and employees in the various public and private sectors.
On Thursday, the Senate intends to resume discussion on the remaining articles of the amendment.
