• The pension reform is entering its second week of consideration in the Senate.
  • After heated exchanges in the National Assembly, the text is debated in a much more muted way at the Luxembourg Palace.
  • Atmosphere, suspense, rhythm... 20 Minutes is the match between the two parliamentary chambers.

In the Senate,

Under the gilding and imposing marble statues, senators continued this Monday the examination of the pension reform. A second week of work that began with the issue of unemployed seniors. On the eve of a big day of mobilization against the government text, the atmosphere was still as hushed in the hemicycle. It was far, far from the chaotic clashes that recently turned the National Assembly into trenches. But this is not the only difference between the two parliamentary chambers. Senate VS Assembly, 20 Minutes makes the match.

Atmosphere: Senate advantage

"The background noise is still quite annoying... " whispers to the microphone the communist senator Laurence Cohen. However, it is necessary to listen carefully, this Monday morning, to hear the chatter in the spans. Because otherwise, senators are sitting in their red seats. And the tone doesn't rise much when they speak. "Once again, Mr. Minister, like Sisyphus, we will try to convince you... " jokes, in a senatorial formula, the communist of the North Eric Bocquet.

From time to time, a few piques, like that of Yan Chantrel, wake up the Chamber a little. "Mr Rapporteur, you should have renamed this amendment the Medef amendment. So why exemptions from family contributions? What does this have to do with the employment of seniors? " scoffs the socialist. "This remark is derogatory and inappropriate, it does not grow you ... " one replies on the right. And that's about it. Especially since on his perch, the president of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, always affable, watches over the grain. Nothing compares, therefore, with the invective, interruptions of sittings and other controversies of fellow Members. The point goes to the Senate.

Suspense: Assembly advantage


This courtesy is probably not unrelated to the low rate of journalists present on Monday. Conference room, there are not many media to welcome senators who come to pass a head. Incomparable with the traffic jams of cameras and microphones, Salle des Quatre Colonnes, for the examination of the same bill at the Palais-Bourbon.

In the gallery, only a handful of journalists listen studiously. One of our neighbors ends up dropping his pen to play Candy Crush on his smartphone. It must be said that the suspense is not really there. There is not, here, no absence of absolute majority as in the Assembly, nor the strategic "blows" of the RN and LFI (they have no elected in the Senate) that put a little spice in the pot. At the Luxembourg Palace, the large right-wing majority crushes the votes. Advantage Assembled.

Attendance rate: equality

This Monday, the hemicycle of the Luxembourg Palace is only half full. But overall, since the beginning of the examination of the text, the attendance rate is more or less the same as during public sessions within the National Assembly. Draw.

Parliamentary rhythm: Senate advantage


Slowly but surely. After a little more than a week of consideration, the Senate already has a few votes in its bag: the end of special regimes or the creation of the senior index. Shortly before noon, elected officials also validate a proposal from LR to create a "senior" permanent contract to encourage their hiring in companies. "We will do everything so that the reform can be adopted," repeated Sunday the boss of the senators LR, Bruno Retailleau.

The right-wing majority and the government are well helped by the attitude of the left, which has distinguished itself from the strategy of La France insoumise in the Assembly. The socialist, communist and ecologist senators thus opted for a form of cordial obstruction, tabling no more than 1,500 amendments, against nearly 18,000 for their colleagues. They want to be able to debate the famous article 7 on the retirement age at 64 before the end of the examination of the text, on 12 March.

  • Senate
  • National Assembly
  • Pension reform 2023
  • Retirement