French opposition group withdraws pension repeal bill in parliament

By Gizem Taskin Nicollet

PARIS (AA) - Lawmakers from the centrist opposition group LIOT in the French National Assembly after heated debates announced on Thursday that they withdrew their proposed law to repeal the pension reform.

Lawmakers in the National Assembly debated the bill, which was introduced by the LIOT group and aimed at returning the retirement age to 62 after the government's highly unpopular pension reforms raised the pension age to 64.

French President Emanuel Macron’s allies in the assembly agreed to use Article 40 of the French Constitution in order to prevent any voting on the bill.

Article 40 prohibits parliamentarians from making proposals or amending legislation that would reduce revenue or increase government spending.

Macron's allies argued that revoking the reform would impose an additional burden of €15-€20 billion (approximately $16.11- $21.47) on taxpayers, without any viable means of financing it.

Bertrand Pancher, the LIOT group leader, said there was nothing left in the text, with the majority of the amendments deemed unacceptable.

“We are not going to make a fool of ourselves by continuing this debate,” Pancher said.

Trade unions and workers are persistently expressing their opposition to the government's pension reform, which was adopted on March 16 and is scheduled to come into effect on September 1.

The LIOT group's proposal was seen as the final chance for the people who were against the pension reform to stop the changes.