00:00Lawmakers in France's lower House of Parliament, the National Assembly,
00:04approved a measure on Wednesday to suspend a controversial pension reform.
00:09The vote, which passed with 255 in favor and 146 against,
00:15followed a major concession by the country's new Prime Minister,
00:18Sébastien Lecornu, to the Socialist Party to avoid censure.
00:22One of the biggest was offering them a suspension of President Emmanuel Macron's
00:26plan to raise retirement age from 62 to 64.
00:30Budget debates in France have recently gained significance,
00:34since Macron's snap election last year resulted in a hung parliament.
00:38Earlier this year, lawmakers voted to remove Prime Minister François Bayrou
00:43after he called an unprecedented confidence vote over his controversial 2026 budget plan.
00:49France, which has had five premiers in just two years,
00:52is continuing to struggle to rein in a budget deficit,
00:56which has become the largest in the eurozone.
00:59The country's public deficit hit 5.8% of GDP in 2024,
01:04totaling 168.6 billion euros,
01:08a figure well above the maximum allowed by EU rules.
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