The proposed reforms to the French pension system, including raising the retirement age, are set for a crucial day today (16 March) after the final draft of the bill was agreed yesterday (15 March).

If the bill is to be voted on in the National Assembly this afternoon, it must first be approved again by the Senate this morning, but it is expected that it would make it through the conservative-dominated Senate.

However, a decision is yet to be made on whether the vote in the National Assembly will be conducted, or whether President, Emmanual Macron, will push the changes through using his presidential powers.

While the bill being approved by the National Assembly would give the reforms more legitimacy, there is a risk that it will be rejected.

Strike action has continued across France against the proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, as the French government attempts to address rising pension costs in the country.

According to polls, around three-quarters of the French population are opposed to the raising of the retirement age.

Macron has described the reforms as essential to make the nation’s pension system more affordable, with the system forecast to run at a deficit in its current state.

The proposed pension age reform process is scheduled to start in September, reaching 63 years and three months by 2027 and hitting the target age of 64 in 2030.

Alongside the raising of the retirement age, several other proposals were presented as part of the reforms.

The amount of time working needed to receive a full pension will rise from 42 years to 43 and a guaranteed minimum pension income will be introduced.

This income level will be set at no less than 85 per cent of minimum wage for new retirees.

Public sector workers in mentally or physically demanding jobs will keep the right to retire earlier than the wider workforce, but their retirement age will rise at the same rate.

The government also announced that differing retirement ages and pension benefits for certain workforces, such as rail workers, would end.

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