© Reuters. Demonstrators attend a march against the 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 adopted President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reform plan on Saturday night after a seventh day of protests that were not as large as authorities had hoped.
One hundred and ninety-five members of the upper house of the French Parliament voted in favor of the text, whose key measure is to raise the retirement age by two years to 64, while 112 voted against.
The protests – and ongoing strikes that have affected refineries, public transport and garbage collection – were aimed at pressuring the government to withdraw the pension plan, which he said is essential to ensure the pension system does not run out of money.
“After hundreds of hours of discussions, the Senate has adopted the pension reform plan. It is a key step in making a reform a reality that will guarantee the future of our pension system,” Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne wrote on Twitter.
She added that she was “totally committed to the final adoption of the text in the coming days.”
Now that the Senate has adopted the bill, it will be reviewed by a joint committee of lawmakers from the upper and lower houses, probably on Wednesday.
If the committee agrees to a text, a final vote in both houses is likely to take place on Thursday, but the outcome still looks uncertain in the lower house, the National Assembly, where Macron’s party needs the votes of allies to obtain a majority.
If the government fears it will not have enough votes in the lower house, it is still possible to pass the text without a parliamentary vote, through the so-called 49:3 procedure.
An additional day of strikes and protests across the country is planned for Wednesday.
LESS THAN EXPECTED IN THE MARCHES ON SATURDAY
According to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, 368,000 protesters marched on Saturday through various cities. Authorities expected up to 1 million people to participate.
As with previous protests, Saturday’s events were free of major skirmishes with police.
On Tuesday, 1.28 million people took to the streets, the highest turnout since the start of the protest movement, according to government figures.
In a joint statement, the French unions, displaying a rare show of unity since the protest movement was launched in late January, called on the government to organize a “citizens’ consultation” as soon as possible.
The unions plan to keep up the pressure “and continue to demonstrate that the vast majority of the population remains determined to say no to the proposed bill,” they said.
Opinion polls show a majority of voters oppose Macron’s plan, while a slim majority support strike action.
REDUCED ELECTRICAL SUPPLY DUE TO STRIKES
“A lot can still happen next week,” Marylise Leon, assistant general secretary of the CFDT union, the country’s biggest, told Franceinfo radio. “Will the text be voted on in the National Assembly? We have to mobilize. It is now or never.”
A TotalEnergies spokesman said strikes were continuing at the oil major’s French refineries and warehouses, while public rail operator SNCF said national and regional services would remain heavily disrupted over the weekend.
In Paris, garbage continues to accumulate on the streets and residents see a growing presence of rats, according to local media.
National power production in France fell by 7.1 gigawatts (GW), or 14%, at nuclear, thermal and hydroelectric plants on Saturday due to strikes, a spokesman for the CGT union told Reuters.
Maintenance at six French nuclear reactors, including Penly 1, was also blocked, the spokesman said.
