MPs approve in committee a bill from La France insoumise

The text will be examined on November 28 in a public session at the Assembly during the LFI parliamentary niche.

A first victory for the left in its desire to repeal the pension reform. The bill providing for reducing the retirement age from 64 to 62 was adopted on Wednesday, November 20, in the Social Affairs Committee. The text, presented by the La France insoumise group as part of its parliamentary niche, will be examined on November 28 in a public session at the Assembly.

In committee, the proposal was approved by 35 votes from the left and the National Rally, against 16 votes from the ranks of the center and the right. The reform adopted in 2023 under the government of Elisabeth Borne was “democratically and socially unjust, and economically inefficient”argued the rapporteur of the text, LFI deputy Ugo Bernalicis. “It's the same [texte] than ours, and we are not sectarian”reacted the RN deputy Thomas Ménage, whose party had presented a similar proposal at the end of October, which the left had not supported.

The bill approved on Wednesday affects not only the legal retirement age, but also the contribution period. The latter is reduced from 43 to 42 annuities, which also amounts to repealing the reform carried out in 2013 by socialist minister Marisol Touraine during François Hollande's five-year term. An amendment, presented by the centrists of the Liot group to preserve the Touraine reform, was rejected. The socialists, who would have preferred to keep this 2013 reform, decided to approve the overall text despite everything.

The left claims to be able to carry its repeal proposal through to the end. After examining the text in the hemicycle next week, she has already planned to include it on the Senate agenda on January 23, during a communist niche, then in second reading at the Senate. National Assembly on February 6, this time in a slot dedicated to environmentalists.

Representatives of the government coalition warned against a text “not serious” et “irresponsible”. “We have to be honest with the French: if this reform is repealed, of course they will be able to leave at 60, but with a much lower pension”argued Macronist MP Stéphanie Rist.