March 2023
13Mar

Spain, Commission agree to controversial pension reform

The government and the European Commission reached a last-minute agreement on a controversial pension system reform which paves the way for Madrid to receive the next tranches of the EU’s Next Generation funds. After months of work and tangible divergences between the two coalition partners, PSOE (S&D) and Unidas Podemos (EU Left), the government struck a deal on Friday, partially softening the coalition’s rift currently in. The reform, agreed with the European Commission, is part of the several milestones committed by...

March 13, 2023
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10Mar

French Senate votes to raise retirement age from 62 to 64 amid nationwide strikes

France's Senate voted Thursday to raise the retirement age by two years to 64, as the government moves to overhaul the country's pensions system in the face of strong opposition from labour unions. The conservative-dominated legislative body voted in favour of a decisive article to raise the age of retirement by 201 votes to 115. Debate will resume later on Thursday over a controversial amendment to the bill. The Senate majority is rushing to meet a deadline of midnight Sunday to finalise...

March 10, 2023
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08Mar

More than 1.2 million march in France over plan to raise pension age to 64

More than 1.2 million protesters marched in France on Tuesday as rail workers and refinery staff began rolling strikes and trade unions stepped up their campaign to try to stop Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the pension age to 64. For the sixth time since the start of the year, trade unions called a nationwide day of strikes and demonstrations. Many protest rallies attracted bigger crowds than previous ones organised since mid-January, including in Marseille, one of France’s biggest cities,...

March 8, 2023
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06Mar

French Strikes Over Pension Reform Plans Expected to Disrupt Public Transport

Industrial action in France over the government's planned pensions overhaul will cause heavy disruption to public transport again on Tuesday, the transport minister and several public transport authorities said Sunday. For the sixth time since the start of the year, unions are calling for a nationwide day of strikes and demonstrations, aiming to repeat the large turnout seen on the first major protest Jan. 19 when more than a million people marched against the pension reform. "There will be very strong...

March 6, 2023
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03Mar

France’s controversial pension reform bill arrives in Senate

Debate over French President Emmanuel Macron’s contested pension reform legislation starts Thursday in the Senate, where the right – which controls the chamber – is expected to treat the text more favourably than opposition parties did in the National Assembly a fortnight ago. The government is banking on support from Senators belonging to the conservative Les Republicains (LR) party, who favour raising the minimum legal retirement age from 62 to 64, and having citizens work longer to obtain a full...

March 3, 2023
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February 2023
22Feb

France. ‘We need to work longer’: France’s Macron defends pensions reform

A majority of the French population, according to polls, and left-wing groups in parliament are strongly opposed to the plan, which includes raising the age of retirement from 62 to 64. But Macron, who put the overhaul at the centre of his re-election campaign last year, had until now largely avoided face-to-face meetings on the plan with members of the public and let his government handle the criticism. On Tuesday, he told journalists the later age was necessary as life expectancy...

February 22, 2023
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17Feb

New pension strikes grip France as MPs wage legislative battle

The fifth day of action against President Emmanuel Macron's reform -- whose headline measure is raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 -- aims to keep up the pressure ahead of a wider mass walkout, planned for March 7. But unlike previous strike days, most mainline trains and the Paris metro were running normally, as fewer workers participated during school holidays across most of France. That was reflected in education ministry figures showing fewer than eight percent of teachers...

February 17, 2023
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09Feb

France’s Macron faces third round of pension reform strikes

President Emmanuel Macron and his government on Tuesday braced for a third wave of nationwide strikes and protests against plans to make the French work longer before retirement, as the bill started its bumpy passage through parliament. Rail services will be disrupted, school classes cancelled and refinery deliveries impacted as workers across multiple sectors walk out, and trade unions have urged the public once again to take to the streets in big numbers. The government says people must work two years...

February 9, 2023
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07Feb

France. New pensions showdown for Macron as reform hits parliament

French President Emmanuel Macron's government faces a crunch week of defending its contested pension reform, with fireworks expected in parliament and mass strikes and demonstrations planned on the streets. Walkouts and marches are planned for Tuesday and Saturday, while left-wing opponents of the minority administration have already filed thousands of amendments ahead of the parliamentary debate beginning on Monday afternoon. Trains and the Paris metro are again expected to see "severe disruptions" according to operators, and around one in five flights...

February 7, 2023
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01Feb

French workers bring Paris to a standstill in second mass strike over pension reforms

French schools and transportation networks were heavily disrupted Tuesday for the second time this month, as unions staged another mass strike against government plans to raise the retirement age for most workers. Unions and opposition parties called for people to protest in major cities, hoping for a repeat of the first major demonstration against the plans on January 19, when more than 1 million people took part. Strikes that day brought the transportation network to a standstill and shuttered the...

February 1, 2023
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