PARIS, July 19 (Reuters) - The French parliament begins committee deliberation on Tuesday on President Nicolas Sarkozy's disputed pension reform which is aimed at taming a record public deficit and debt.
The bill aims to raise the retirement age to 62 from 60 by 2018, make people work longer for a full pension and gradually raise civil servants’ contributions to private sector levels by 2020. It also provides for extra revenue to fund the pension system from higher taxes on top earners, capital gains and stock options.
The government aims to have the bill adopted by the end of October. It has said the key principles are not open to change but it is prepared to discuss concessions on earlier retirement for people in arduous work, those who began working at an early age and those who have fragmented pension rights.
The following is a timeline of the legislative procedure:
* July 13 – Labour Minister Eric Woerth, presented the draft pension reform bill to the cabinet, which approved it.
* July 20 to 23 – Parliament’s social affairs committee will examine details of the draft bill in closed sessions with input from the legal affairs and finance committees.
The committee chairman will give daily media briefings.
* Sept. 7 – The National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, holds a plenary debate on the bill during a special session.
* October – senators take their turn to debate the draft bill.
* The government has decided to use a fast-track procedure to reduce the number of times the bill moves through both houses of the assembly, so as to have it finally adopted by the end of October.
