France's contested pension reform bill goes to Senate

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The lower house of France's parliament examined a contentious pension plan aiming at raising the country's retirement age from 62 to 64 during what was believed to be the final debate on the issue before submitting it to the Senate.

Despite countrywide protests and strikes, President Emmanuel Macron's government has decided to push ahead with the bill.

Legislators debated amendments to the second of 20 articles on Friday morning.

Both the government and the opposition accused each other of using the political debate to harm the democratic discussion.

Macron's allies condemned the left's "obstruction" strategy that it said prevented lawmakers from doing their jobs.

The government was chastised by opposition MPs for utilizing parliamentary rules on budget legislation to set a tight deadline in the National Assembly, stating that it did not allow enough time to debate such an important matter.

The bill will be debated in the Senate on March 2. The lengthy legislative procedure is expected to last several weeks.

Workers' unions and youth organizations have threatened to "bring France to a standstill" on March 7.

The government hopes that the document will eventually be voted on by both houses of parliament, with the support of The Republicans, who have long advocated for hiking the retirement age.

Macron's centrist alliance has the most seats in the National Assembly, but it lost its majority in last year's legislative elections.

It is worth noting that the Republicans control the Senate.

The far-right National Rally has sought a no-confidence vote against the government, which will be held in the early hours of Saturday following the conclusion of the pension bill debate.

Several political parties have declared they will not vote for the resolution, which requires half of the Assembly's seats, or 289 seats, to be approved. The National Rally has 88 lawmakers in its ranks.

Despite polls consistently showing growing opposition to the reform and Macron's own popularity dwindling, the French president insisted on keeping a key campaign pledge he made when he swept to power in 2017 and before his reelection in April 2022.