the Senate votes the end of certain special regimes for future recruits

One of the most sensitive measures of the pension reform project has passed a parliamentary milestone. The Senate, with a majority on the right, voted, Saturday evening, March 4, the extinction of several special regimes, for future recruits.

The left, which has largely occupied the field in the Senate since the start of the debates on Thursday, argued all day against this first article of the government bill which provides for the gradual extinction of five special regimes (electricity and gas industries, RATP, Banque de France, notary clerks and employees, members of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council). It is expected that agents recruited from September 2023 will be affiliated to the common law scheme for old-age insurance.

For the left, the end of special diets is “an ideological and demagogic proposal”, which will not generate financial gain. The trades concerned “Are they as painful [aujourd’hui qu’hier] ? »retorted the general rapporteur, Elisabeth Doineau (Centrist Union). “We have to open our eyes, we are asking for efforts from all French people, whoever they are”she argued.

“You have decided to ‘border’ a major sector of our energy sovereignty”launched the president of the Socialist Party (PS) group, Patrick Kanner, to the address of the Minister of Labour, Olivier Dussopt. “You are going to go down in the history of the gravediggers of our social protection”, he added.

A “left-wing reform”, believes Olivier Dussopt

In an interview at ParisianOlivier Dussopt, a former socialist, defended a “left-wing reform that could have been carried out by a social-democratic government”and that “creates rights that we did not know about, in particular on hardship and carers”.

“The last reform carried out by the left increased the contribution period, which constitutes a machine for small pensions”he criticized.

The right, it is almost absent from the discussion in the Senate. “You want to obstruct, we don’t”, dropped to the left, Saturday, the leader of the senators Les Républicains (LR), Bruno Retailleau. The latter wants these special schemes also to be abolished for current employees, but his proposal will be examined later. The government is against, and its amendment could be rejected, for lack of support from the centrists.

Debates will continue on Sunday on Article 2, also sensitive, concerning the employment of seniors. The hitherto very balanced climate became tense on Saturday evening, around an imbroglio on the publication of a ” notice “ of the Council of State on the bill, insistently demanded by the left. The Minister of Labor assuring him that this is a ” note “ which need not be published. “I thought I understood that I was not in the National Assembly”replied Mr. Dussopt when the socialist Marie-Pierre de La Gontrie questioned her “sincerity”.

Acerbic exchange also between M^me de La Gontrie, who launched to the right “You haven’t done anything for two days, we are working”and the rapporteur LR René-Paul Savary. “You prefer the effects of the platform to the efficiency of the work”he retorted, praising the constancy of the senatorial majority on the question of pensions.

The bout of tension was brief, far from the permanent heckling that had prevailed in the National Assembly. In a grandstand at Sunday newspaperfour former Presidents of the Assembly (Bernard Accoyer, Claude Bartolone, Jean-Louis Debré and François de Rugy) have moreover denounced “a sad sight”calling for “respect the National Assembly and its President”.

Strike by electricians and gas workers

The debates are held in the Senate as pressure mounts in the streets and businesses before the March 7 mobilization. Electricians and gas workers, concerned like the RATP by this disappearance of their regime, began a renewable strike on Friday. It leads to reductions in electricity production in several nuclear power plants, without causing cuts for customers.

“If Emmanuel Macron does not want a France at a standstill and a black week in energy, it would be better for him to withdraw his reform”warned Sébastien Ménesplier, general secretary of the CGT Energie. “We will be able to do anything”, warned Fabrice Coudour, Federal Secretary. On tour in Africa, the Head of State declared on Saturday that he had no “not much new to say”.

Gabriel Attal raised his voice against the unions: they are “the French that they are going to block” And “the workers they will bring to their knees”said the Minister of Public Accounts, on the sidelines of a visit to the Agricultural Show, calling on opponents of the reform to ” the responsibility “.

The mobilization of March 7 against the postponement from 62 to 64 of the legal retirement age promises to be massive. According to police sources, the intelligence services expect between 1.1 and 1.4 million demonstrators throughout France.

The intersyndicale will meet on Tuesday evening to decide on the next steps: “there is no gravel between us”assured France Inter, Saturday, the secretary general of FO, Frédéric Souillot. “There will be general assemblies which will decide on the renewal or not” of the movement on the sites on strike.