Pension reform: the Senate approves the postponement of the age of majority

This vote comes after seven days of debate and the day after a sixth day of massive mobilization across France against this reform.

A stark difference

The senators, mostly right-wing, voted shortly after midnight: 201 votes in favor, 115 against. asked to Public Senatewelcomed Olivier Dussopt “that this step is taken in the Senate. It is a necessary reform to rebalance the pension system”. ignoring a street opposition that does not weaken.

Strong exchanges

Debates over the postponement of the age began on March 7 after another day of massive mobilization in the country. “We are there, at the heart of your bill declared inadmissible by our people”, he had then launched the communist senator Cathy Apourceau-Poly.

The socialist, communist and ecological senators wanted a longer debate on this key article of the reform. However, as reported by our colleagues from Publication, the president of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, chose, in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday and at the request of the right-wing majority, to speed up the debates by resorting to article 38 of the internal regulation, which limits the speeches as well as the explanations of votes on the article until the bill has been considered. Left-wing senators then denounced a “power stroke” from the right, indicating an attempt to gag the left to speed up the reform review. In the night from Tuesday to Wednesday ” they had left the hemicycle to protest against the ‘maneuvers’, according to them, of the majority “, as relative Publication.

Senators still have to examine thirteen articles of the reform and the debates remain open until Sunday at midnight.