The reform of the pension system proposed by the government of Emmanuel Macron left this Monday a tense debate in the National Assemblyin the first session of discussions on a text that is opposed by the unions and, according to polls, by the majority of the French.
The debates, in which the ruling bloc will have to win the support of other political groups by lacking an absolute majority -lost in the 2022 legislatures- to approve it alone, are expected to be arduous, with motions and some 20,000 amendments to be reviewed in the next fifteen days.
“Do they expect us to spend fifteen days like this?” Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of the Assembly, rebuked angrily, before the constant shouts and boos from the opposition deputies at the beginning of the debate, when the Minister of Labor was to speak, Olivier Dussopt.
“I am very proud to present, on behalf of the Government, this bill,” Dussopt asserted when he was finally able to speak, because, according to him, the reform “assures” the future of the pension system and contributes to the goal of “full employment”.
The French Minister of Labor, although he admitted that it is a “sensitive” and “difficult” issue, stressed that this bill responds to the “spirit of responsibility” of President Macron, who had promised to reform the retirement system when he was re-elected for a second term at the Élysée.
Dussopt also defended the reform as necessary to guarantee the balance of the system, which would otherwise fall into a serious deficit, and maintained that, apart from that imperative, the only thing that exists are false promises.
The agenda for this first day was led by a motion to totally reject the project of the Nupes coalition -which brings together the Socialist Party, La Francia Insumisa de Jean-Luc Mélenchonthe environmentalists of EELV and the Communist Party – and another that called for a referendum presented by the far-right Agrupación Nacional (RN), the bloc of Marine LePen.
“We are going to use all the means at our disposal so that this text is not voted on,” Le Pen said at a press conference shortly before the start of the debate.
The first attempt, however, was shipwrecked, since the RN motion to submit the reform to a referendum received only 101 votes in favor, compared to 272 against.
For their part, the parliamentarians of the left-wing coalition staged their unity against the project, arriving together at the Assembly and indicating to the media that they felt they were bearers of the word of the unions and of the “people”, since polls show that the French are overwhelmingly against this reform.
“Between the ego of President Macron and the general interest, you have to choose,” launched the leader of the LFI ranks in the chamber, Mathilde Panotwho described the reform as “archaic and productivist”.
The motion for total rejection of the text presented by Nupes was, however, also ruled out, with 292 votes against and 243 in favor.
The reform contemplates as main axes the increase from 62 to 64 years of the minimum retirement age and the advancement to 2027 of the increase of one year (from 42 to 43) in the contribution necessary to enjoy a full pension (up to now planned for 2035).
It also proposes ending the special retirement regimes, more advantageous than the general system and used on many occasions by public sector companies, but maintains other aspects, such as the 67-year-old limit to have a full pension (regardless of the years of contribution ).
In the previous weeks, the Executive headed by the Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne it was inflexible regarding these flag lines, despite the large mobilizations organized by the unions on January 19 and 31 and calls for new demonstrations and strikes this week (February 7 and 11).
This Sunday, in an interview with the weekly Le Journal du DimancheYes, she was open to accepting an amendment from the Conservatives to advance the retirement age of those who have started working at 21 or less to 63 years of age.
Ensuring the support of the conservative sector of the chamber, embodied by the deputies of the Los Republicanos bloc, is essential for the approval of the project, since, otherwise, the pro-government deputies will not add the necessary majority.
But neither do they give the numbers to the left or the extreme right -not even joining forces- to knock down the project.
The pension reform will again be the protagonist of protests in the streets nationwide this Tuesday.
(With information from EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com