"I hope that the Senate can enrich" the text on pension reform "with what it considers useful", said Emmanuel Macron on Saturday February 25, three days before the examination of the bill by the upper house.
"I saw (that) the Senate wanted to move things forward on family policy and women's rights. I think the government will approach (this debate) with openness and willingness to engage in building a majority behind this text", continued the Head of State.
"I would like the Senate to be able to enrich this text with what it considers useful. (...) The Senate, which moreover has several times carried out reforms which were quite close to that which is now carried out by the government “, added Emmanuel Macron.
Republicans want to "vote" the text
In an interview with Le Parisien published on Saturday evening, the boss of the Les Républicains group in the upper house, Bruno Retailleau, indicated "wishing to vote (the text), after having modified it", in particular in order to "not widen the deficits, but manage to fill them".
"We intend to offer the government two options: either a 5% premium for mothers who have reached both a full career and the legal age, or an early departure at 63," added Bruno Retailleau, referring to also the idea of an "end-of-career contract which would be exempt from family contributions" for employees aged at least 60.
The text, which was only very partially examined in the National Assembly during heated debates, will be studied from March 2 in the Senate where Les Républicains, whose executive hopes for support to bring its project to fruition, are in the majority. .
If the two chambers then agree within a joint committee, a vote is possible.
In the event of disagreement, the government can resort to article 49.3 of the Constitution which allows a text to be adopted without a vote.
But the executive hopes to be able to avoid this scenario.
The President of the Republic, who was speaking on the sidelines of a visit to the Paris Agricultural Show, thus put an end to the media discretion observed since the beginning of the debates on the reform.
On the contrary, he defended his project at length, all day Saturday, to the many onlookers who questioned him on the subject, sometimes in a lively way.
Another strike day on March 7
"It must be done because the system must be balanced by work and not by taxes, otherwise you can no longer invest in education (...) in health", reaffirmed the President of the Republic.
"I did not find anger among our compatriots", he however assured, saying to perceive "concern".
"This is also what is expressed in the demonstrations on pensions: when we listen to people, it is not retirement, the subject. It is work and working conditions", continued Emmanuel Macron, considering that "a lot of people who demonstrate, it's the prospect of their career, it's 'does my job pay me enough or not?'".
“There is a feeling of injustice”, he still considered.
The trade unions unanimously call for a new day of mobilization on March 7 and threaten to put France on hold to prevent the adoption of the text.
With AFP and Reuters
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