French Senate votes for controversial rise of retirement age to 64
Mary-Kate Findon
Thu, 9 March 2023
The French senate has voted to rise the retirement age to 64, a move proving to be controversial among the public.
Protests have broken out across the country over the proposed rise to the pension age by two years.
Emmanuel Macron has said that the move is necessary to prevent the country from running into a deficit.
Nationwide strikes were held this week against the change to the retirement age, with education and transport workers among those staging industrial action.
The conservative-dominated legislative body voted in favour by 201 votes to 115.
Mary-Kate Findon
Thu, 9 March 2023
The French senate has voted to rise the retirement age to 64, a move proving to be controversial among the public.
Protests have broken out across the country over the proposed rise to the pension age by two years.
Emmanuel Macron has said that the move is necessary to prevent the country from running into a deficit.
Nationwide strikes were held this week against the change to the retirement age, with education and transport workers among those staging industrial action.
The conservative-dominated legislative body voted in favour by 201 votes to 115.
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French pension reform strikes continue to disrupt fuel supplies, power outputNEWS WIRES
Thu, 9 March 2023
© Pascal Rossignol, Reuters
Workers striking in protest against proposed changes to France's pension system continued to block fuel deliveries and reduce electricity production at several sites on Thursday.
Power supply was reduced by 8.2 gigawatts (GW), or 13% of overall production, across some of the country's nuclear, thermal and hydropower sites due to the strike, EDF data showed.
France is not currently importing electricity, data from grid operator RTE showed, suggesting domestic supply is meeting demand.
TotalEnergies said there were again no fuel deliveries from its French refineries due to the strike.
There were also no deliveries from ExxonMobil unit Esso's Fos-sur-Mer refinery in southern France, although operations had returned to normal at Port Jerome in the northwest, a union representative told Reuters.
About 7% of French refuelling stations lacked at least one product as of Wednesday, but "there is no supply problem for service stations and the situation is improving", said OlivierGantois, president of the French Union for Petroleum, Energy and Mobility Industries UFIP.
While the price of diesel product contracts in Europe has edged up in recent days, "overall the market doesn't seem to be reacting to the strikes in the same way it did during October 2022", said Pamela Munger, senior market analyst at energy analytics firm Vortexa, referring to a previous wave of industrial action.
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