The Senate, with a majority of right, adopted in first reading, on the night of Thursday to Friday, the project of ” urgent provisions to address the epidemic of Covid-19 “, with significant changes. It includes measures on the part-time unemployment, the justice, or the Brexit. The text was adopted late in the night on a vote by show of hands, without the full vote, and senators of the socialist pointing in particular ” setbacks unacceptable in criminal justice and right-to-work “.
The national Assembly had already voted on first reading this text called “catch-all” by mps and “protean” by the government. Deputies and senators will now attempt to agree on a common text in mixed joint commission. In case of failure, a new reading would be organised in the two chambers, the parliament has the last word. The text notably plans for new adaptations of labour law, measures relating to justice, as well as provisions related to the Brexit. These last two were the main sticking points in the Senate.
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A “device-specific” part-time unemployment
The draft law initially provided for 40 clearances to legislate by ordinances, a number reduced to “less than ten” according to the minister Marc Fesneau (Relations with Parliament) after the passage in the Senate. The senators have written “in the clear” in the draft law, the major part of the clearances removed, restricting the scope and duration of those that they have maintained.
chapter work, the Senate has given its green light to an amendment to the government allowing a modulation of the mechanism of partial unemployment from the 1st of June. It has also given its approval to the creation of a “specific device” for partial unemployment, allowing a “reduction of working time “offset” in part ” by the State. Regarding the establishment of pension rights in respect of the activity part, the senators have limited the provision to 31 December, whereas the government wants its perpetuation. “The crisis has revealed a flaw in the system “, the minister said Marc Fesneau.
On the justice component, the senators rejected the extension of the experimentation of the criminal courts. Other ” point of fixation “, the authorization to take by ordinances of measures related to the Brexit at the end of the transition period. It should in principle end on 31 December 2020. Already reduced from 30 to 15 months by the national Assembly, this power was further reduced to seven months by the senators in the committee. Its scope was further restricted. The government has tried in vain to return to 15 months. A provision aimed at harmonizing the processing of applications for compensation of victims of French nuclear tests has also been removed by the senators.
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