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© Reuters. Demonstrators attend a march towards the federal government’s pension reform plan in Paris, France, March 11, 2023. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
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By Benoit Van Overstraeten and Forrest Crellin
PARIS (Reuters) -The French Senate on Saturday night time adopted President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reform plan within the wake of a seventh day of demonstrations that weren’t as massive as authorities had anticipated.
100 and ninety-five members of the higher home of the French Parliament voted for the textual content, whose key measure is elevating the retirement age by two years to 64, whereas 112 voted towards.
The protests – and rolling strikes which have affected refineries, public transport and rubbish collections – aimed to strain the federal government to withdraw the pension plan, which it mentioned is crucial to make sure the pension system doesn’t run out of cash.
“After lots of of hours of discussions, the Senate adopted the pension reform plan. It’s a key step to make a reform occur that may assure the way forward for our pension system,” Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne wrote on Twitter.
She added she was “completely dedicated to make sure the textual content will likely be definitively adopted within the coming days”.
Now that the Senate has adopted the invoice, it is going to be reviewed by a joint committee of decrease and higher home lawmakers, most likely on Wednesday.
If the committee agrees on a textual content, a closing vote in each chambers is more likely to happen on Thursday, however the final result of that also appears unsure within the decrease chamber, the Nationwide Meeting, the place Macron’s get together wants allies’ votes for a majority.
If the federal government fears it will not have sufficient votes within the decrease home, it’s nonetheless doable for it to push the textual content via with out a parliamentary vote, through a so-called 49:3 process.
An extra day of nationwide strikes and protests was deliberate for Wednesday.
FEWER THAN EXPECTED AT SATURDAY’S MARCHES
In response to figures from the inside ministry, 368,000 demonstrators marched via varied cities on Saturday. Authorities had anticipated as much as 1 million individuals to participate.
As with the earlier protests, Saturday’s occasions have been freed from any main scuffles with the police.
On Tuesday, 1.28 million individuals took to the streets, the very best turnout for the reason that begin of the protest motion, in accordance with authorities figures.
In a joint assertion, the French unions, sustaining a uncommon present of unity for the reason that protest motion was launched on the finish of January, referred to as on the federal government to arrange a “residents’ session” as quickly as doable.
The unions plan to maintain up strain “and to maintain on proving that the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants stays decided to say no to the proposed invoice,” they mentioned.
Opinion polls present a majority of voters oppose Macron’s plan, whereas a slim majority helps the strike actions.
LOWER POWER SUPPLY DUE TO STRIKES
“Quite a lot of issues can nonetheless occur subsequent week,” Marylise Leon, deputy secretary normal of the CFDT union, the nation’s largest, informed Franceinfo radio. “Will the textual content be voted within the Nationwide Meeting? We have now to rally. It is now or by no means.”
A spokesperson for TotalEnergies mentioned that strikes proceed within the oil main’s French refineries and depots, whereas public railway operator SNCF mentioned nationwide and regional companies would stay closely disrupted over the weekend.
In Paris, rubbish continues to pile up on the streets, with residents seeing a rising presence of rats, in accordance with native media.
Nationwide energy manufacturing in France was decreased by 7.1 gigawatts (GW), or 14%, at nuclear, thermal and hydropower vegetation on Saturday as a result of strikes, a CGT union spokesperson informed Reuters.
Upkeep was additionally blocked at six French nuclear reactors, together with Penly 1, the spokesperson mentioned.
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