国际英语新闻：Sarkozy proposes amendments to pension reform bill

PARIS, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested the senators discussing the controversial pension reform bill to make amendments favouring women and parents to alleviate disputes, the Elysee Palace said Thursday in a statement.

After a consultation with ministers and legislators in the morning, the president's office made an announcement considering disadvantages of female and parents in raising children in the pension reforms.

"A specific answer is given to mothers of the generations closer to retirement age, who may have experienced career interruptions due to experience related to children education of their children," the statement said.

It proposed to allow parents who stop work for at least one year within three years after the birth of a child to retain the rights to full pension entitlement at the retirement of 65.

Similarly, parents of disabled children could enjoy the same benefit, "because the arrival of a disabled child in a household's accompanies a lasting impact on the lives of his parents, including their professional life," the statement added.

However, the government refused to step backwards on pivotal points such as raising the minimum retiring age to 62 in 2018 and full pension age to 67 in 2023.

"The gradual increase of the statutory age of retirement at age 62 is an essential component of reform, because without this guarantee demographic balance can't be achieved," the statement said.

As to offset the budget gap brought by these preferential measures, which may increase a cost of 3.4 billion euros (4.7 billion U.S. dollars), the government said to expect a levy increase of social capital by 0.2 points and tax adjustment on property disposals.

According to the state Pensions Council, the annual pension deficit is forecast to reach 32 billion euros (44.7 billion dollars) in 2010, then 80 billion euros (111.1 billion dollars) in 2030.