Aujourd'hui, nous créons un observatoire du PaCS. Pendant les débats, nous nous engageons à surveiller les députés. Après le vote, nous continuerons à dénoncer les incohérences du texte, et nous nous efforcerons, avec les instruments du droit, d'en corriger les lacunes.
 
 

7 April 1999
FRENCH ASSEMBLY APPROVES ANOTHER PARTNER BILL
By Rex Wockner

France's National Assembly again passed a measure April 7 to grant gay and unmarried straight couples many of the rights and
obligations of matrimony.

The vote was 300-253. Deputies affiliated with the leftist government parties supported the bill while deputies from the opposition parties
generally rejected it.

Under the measure, partners must support each other financially and be jointly liable for debts related to housing and living expenses.
Spousal rights are accorded in areas such as social-security benefits, synchronized vacation time, immigration, taxation, inheritance and
housing.

A similar bill passed the Assembly last Dec. 9 but was rejected by the Senate March 18. The new measure now moves to the Senate.

26 March 1999 :
French Dump Partners Bill

FRANCE, Paris - The French Senate rejected a measure passed by the National Assembly in December that granted unmarried
couples, gay and straight, romantic or not, many of the rights and benefits of matrimony. The vote, taken on 18 March, was 216 to 99.
The Senators approved an alternative proposal by a vote of 192 to 117 that recognises only male-female cohabiting couples. The
measure that passed the Assembly 316-249 on 9 December would have granted gay couples rights in such areas as inheritance,
housing, taxation, workplace benefits, social security and social-welfare programs. 

Reuters 08 December 1998 : 
French Assembly Passes Gay Couples Bill

FRANCE, Paris - France's National Assembly on Wednesday passed a controversial bill to improve the lot of gay and non-married
couples despite strong right-wing opposition. The bill, passed by 316 votes to 249 with the support of the ruling coalition of Socialists,
Communists and Greens, will be debated next March by the conservative-dominated Senate (upper house). 

The bill institutes a Civil Solidarity Pact (PACS) that two cohabiting individuals aged over 18 may agree to improve their rights
regarding, for example, inheritance rights and joint tax returns. 

Parliamentarians nearly came to blows last month over the bill, which opponents say could open the way to gay marriages and adoption
of children by homosexual couples. It has sparked a furious debate on the evolution of social values in this once deeply Roman Catholic
country. Bishops have condemned it as "useless and dangerous." 

Leftwingers say the PACS is needed to adapt outdated laws to the evolution of French society, where marriages are on the decline and
many young couples do not bother to go to church or the registrar's office to seal their relationship. 

The right sees it as a haphazard demagogical construction that makes legal nonsense, contradicts a host of provisions of the civil code
and harms the rights of families and children. 

But PACS has already become part of the popular language, with young people jokingly asking each other: "Do you want to pacs with
me?"