Discussions in France’s National Assembly on the pension reform bill are continuing this Wednesday amid tensions delaying the progress of debates, marked by the opposition’s rejection of the bill. Since February 17, the government initiative to establish a universal points-based system is on the daily agenda of the National Assembly.

The mechanism used in the sessions by France Insoumise members and communists has been to introduce over 30,000 amendments in order to obstruct the bill, which is one of the campaign promises of President Emmanuel Macron presented by the government as fairer than the current system of 42 regimes.

Yesterday, the official lawmakers withdrew from the debates, which lasted until the early hours of this Wednesday, in protest to what they described as obstruction of the opponents with their ‘identical amendments, aimed at unnecessarily expanding discussions.’ Insoumise members and communists defended their right in an increasingly tense environment, which triggers the possibility of the government to go to article 49.3 of the Constitution, which after a deliberation of the Council of Ministers would allow the adoption of the bill without the need to vote.

So far, two weeks of work in the hemicycle have allowed adopting only the first of the 65 articles of the text, in the midst of the thousands of amendments placed on the table by the left-wing.

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