In a rare moment of agreement on the pension reform, the National Assembly adopted Sunday a government amendment including in the text the concept of "decent standard of living", after similar proposals from several political sides. After a week of blockage and speculation on a possible use of 49.3 to have the reform adopted, the Secretary of State for Pensions Laurent Pietraszewski stressed a "desire to compromise and speed up our work", by combining "satisfactory "and" worthy "in the wording of his amendment.
Replacing the term "satisfactory"
The aim is to include this "objective of guaranteeing a satisfactory and dignified standard of living for retired people" in the general principles of the universal pension system, the subject of Article 1 which MEPs are still examining .
Communist Stéphane Peu pleaded for the inclusion of the term "worthy" in these objectives, arguing that dignity was included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . The amendment sought to replace the term "satisfactory" advanced by the government, which it called "the gaseous concept". He was supported in particular by Insoumis Eric Coquerel. A similar amendment had been tabled by walker Martine Wonner. UDI deputy Thierry Benoît voted for the adoption of the communist amendment, calling it a "fine proposal". Liberties and Territories deputy Philippe Vigier hailed "a strong significance".
"A dignified retirement still has another aspect than a simply satisfactory retirement"
Walker Monique Limon explained that the term "satisfactory" used in the text was the one currently used by the Social Security Code, an argument also put forward by the government.
The communist Pierre Dharréville praised "the creativity of the government", indicating that the communists, "not jealous", were ready to vote the government proposal. "A dignified retirement still has another aspect than a simply satisfactory retirement," he said.
The Minister in charge of Relations with the Parliament Marc Fesneau welcomed "the evolution of the debate", far from the "competition of synonyms which we engaged in" on Saturday. He called to advance in the text, to "give meaning to the words". "Mr. Fesneau, your intervention, except to put fuel on the fire does not seem to me judicious", regretted the LR Thibault Bazin, asking the minister to stop "to highlight the obstruction".