France's Senate Passes Controversial Pension Reform

The controversial bill will raise the legal retirement age of French workers from 62 years of age to 64 and is a major win for President Emmanuel Macron despite mass protests against the plan nationwide.

On Sunday France's Senate passed a controversial reform bill that will raise the retirement age for those in France by two years. The Senate passed the bill by 195 votes to 112. It will now go to a joint parliamentary committee (CMP), after which the chambers of Parliament will vote separately on the bill.

The bill plans to gradually raise the retirement age by three months a year starting in September of 2023 until 2030, when the age of those who will be able to retire reaches 64.

"After hundreds of hours of discussions, the Senate adopted the pension reform plan. It is a key step to make a reform happen that will guarantee the future of our pension system," Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne wrote on Twitter.

Socialists criticized the bill, with Senator Monique Lubin telling Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt: "Your name will forever be attached to a reform that will set the clock back almost 40 years."

On Saturday over 368,000 protesters marched through various cities in France to protest the bill, though authorities had expected close to 1 million following Tuesday's protest when 1.28 million took to the street to protest the reform.

Macron and his government have defended the bill, which he has championed, arguing that raising the retirement age and hardening requirements for a full pension will keep the system from falling into a deficit.