The situation is different in the upper house, where the Republican party (conservatives) dominates, which generally supports the reform passed in committee yesterday entering the Senate, suggesting that the text could pass this phase, albeit with changes and some Concessions the ruling party to get the accompaniment of the right.
Discussions in the plenary hall of the Luxembourg Palace will begin in the afternoon with the presentation of Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt’s initiative and the motions of no confidence to stop it. The left-wing opposition is preparing a motion that would force the executive to put their project through a referendum with little prospect of success given their minority status.
The struggle of pension reform detractors remains at the heart of the Conservative-backed increase in the statutory retirement age from 62 to 64.
The text did not go beyond the second article passed in the National Assembly, where the ruling party no longer has an absolute majority, ahead of the 20,000 amendments tabled by the opposition, much of it by La Francia Insumisa, a force which does not exist in the Senate.
The number of amendments tabled in the House of Lords does not exceed five thousand and some of them could remain in the filter before being analyzed from tomorrow.
Senate President Gérard Larcher was confident that the analysis of the project would be completed this time.
Aware that it takes conservatives to push for reforms in the Senate, the government made clear signs that it would accommodate them on a number of points.
The parliamentary path remains complicated for the ruling party since the National Assembly has the last word in France, without forgetting the controversial Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows the adoption of initiatives without the vote of deputies and senators.
While that is the political panorama, the eight largest social sector unions are preparing to paralyze the country with a general strike from March 7th.
After massive demonstrations on January 19 and 31, and February 7, 11 and 16 against the reform, the unions agreed that the reducible national strike is the only solution for the government to back down. In the last few hours, Minister Dussopt and government spokesman Olivier Véran have accused the unions of seeking a blockade with unforeseeable economic consequences, a criterion rejected by the strike organizers.
According to the general secretary of the French Confederation of Democratic Trade Unions, Laurent Berger, the government’s intention to discredit an unprecedented anti-retirement mobilization at 64 is rude.
President Emmanuel Macron insists the French must work harder to avoid a financial imbalance in the pension system, a criterion questioned by opposition to the project, which polls show is opposed by a majority of citizens.
jf/wmr