Yesterday, Friday, the French Senate voted in the first reading for an “emergency” bill to support purchasing power, the first part of a package of measures aimed at combating inflation, which exceeded 6%.
According to a report by Agence France Presse, the text was approved by a show of hands after two days of generally calm discussions, in contrast to the chaotic debate that reigned in the National Assembly before MPs voted in favor of it on first reading. week, starting next Monday, members of the House of Representatives will start the Senate amending the 2022 budget, in sessions that could be tense due to the possibility of a tax on “surplus profits” that the centrists are particularly defending.
Lawmakers and senators will meet next Monday in a joint committee to try to agree on a joint version of the purchasing power bill as the government expects final approval of its two constituent texts no later than August 7.
For his part, French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire explained that the first text concerns 20.7 billion euros, while the second text includes 44 billion euros of appropriations, including 9.7 billion to finance the entire renationalization of EDF. , noting that “inflation is still not our main concern, but we expect it to decline” in 2023.
On Friday, the Institute of Statistics reported in its first estimates for July that inflation for the year reached 6.1%, compared with 5.8% in July.
The Senate approved a 4% increase in pensions and a number of benefits retroactively from July 1, 2022.
Source: AFP