The French Senate approved late yesterday Wednesday a key article in a draft amendment to the pension system, stipulating raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.

201 members voted in favor of raising the retirement age, while 115 members voted against it.

Immediately after the vote, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne expressed her "pleasure" at the approval of the amendment, confirming in a tweet on Twitter that this reform is "balanced and fair".

The session also witnessed sharp exchanges between the left opposition and the ruling right.

The approval of this article comes following massive protests held in France, involving 1.28 million people according to the Ministry of the Interior, and 3.5 million according to the General Labor Union, protesting against the reform of the pension system in France.

The draft law stipulates gradually raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years, by 3 months annually, starting from September 1, 2023 until 2030.

It also stipulates increasing the required contribution period in social security from 42 years to 43 years, so that the retiree receives their full pension without any deductions.