France's lower house of parliament has passed a controversial reform bill which will raise the minimum pension age from 60 to 62 by 2018.
It passed with 329 votes to 233 in the National Assembly in a stormy session and will now go before the Senate.
The government says the bill is needed to address France's deficit, but it has been fiercely opposed by the left.
Thousands have protested against the bill and union leaders have threatened to stage open-ended strikes.
Socialist members of parliament had attempted to prevent the vote from taking place by prolonging the debate past the cut-off point.
But house speaker Bernard Accoyer interrupted the process to allow the vote to proceed, prompting calls for his resignation from the Socialists.
Jean-Francois Cope, leader of President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party in the lower house, said the bill was highly important and most French people believe it is necessary.
"[They] know there is no other solution than to pass this courageous reform - begun in all of Europe's big countries - and that we have to do this to revive France," he said.
BBC News
