PARIS, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- The French Parliament on Thursday adopted the final section of a purchasing power bill, aimed at shielding the country against energy price spikes and soaring inflation.
In the French National Assembly, 292 deputies voted in favor of adopting the bill, while 120 voted against. In the Senate, 233 voted in favor against 97, French daily Le Figaro reported.
The first section of the purchasing power bill, adopted on Wednesday, lays down "emergency measures for the protection of purchasing power" for French people amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict and rising inflation in the country. It increases social benefits and retirement pensions by 4 percent, and a "rent shield" will be put in place with a reference rent index of 3.5 percent until June 2023.
Meanwhile, the second section of the bill includes measures such as continuing the energy tariff shield that caps energy price increases, and 9.7 billion euros (9.9 billion U.S. dollars) will be used for the government to hold 100 percent of French electricity company EDF's capital, to avoid depending on other countries for electricity. (1 euro = 1.02 U.S. dollars) Enditem
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