The message got through. The Minister of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, pleaded on Thursday March 2 for “respect” at the opening of the debates in the Senate on the pension reform, assuring that the upper house was “not a ZAD”, an allusion to the tumultuous exchanges that preceded the National Assembly.
“I know that here we debate, we respect each other. I know that here there is no ZAD, there is only the Republic”, declared the minister in front of the Senate, with a majority on the right. “We are open to compromise between the senatorial majority which embodies the will for reform and the presidential majority which bears the responsibility for reform,” he said.
The government plan foresees a lowering of the retirement age to 64 years. The senators have been proposing a postponement for five years.
Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt also reached out to the right, calling for “republican dialogue” and promising to “look with interest” at some of his amendments, such as the one proposing a bonus for mothers.
