In France, hundreds of thousands of people have again taken to the streets against the government's pension reform. The Interior Ministry spoke of 368,000 demonstrators nationwide on Saturday. According to the CGT union, more than a million people took part in the protest. The unions have called for further demonstrations and strikes on Wednesday.

Pension reform is considered one of President Emmanuel Macron's key projects. The unions consider the project unfair and brutal. The government wants to gradually raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. In addition, the number of payment years required for a full pension should increase more quickly.

Currently, the retirement age is 62 years. In fact, retirement begins later on average: those who have not paid in long enough to be entitled to a full pension work longer. At the age of 67 there is then a pension without deductions, regardless of how long it has been paid in - the government wants to keep this. She wants to increase the monthly minimum pension to around 1,200 euros.

The project is currently being debated in the Senate. The deadline for the examination expires on Monday night. In the National Assembly, the second chamber of parliament, there was no final vote in the first reading because of the accelerated procedure. A commission with members from both chambers is to work out a compromise next week.