Paris: French Prime Minister S©bastien Lecornu has postponed President Emmanuel Macron's controversial pension reform, delaying the planned increase in the retirement age to 64 until January 2028. 'This suspension is intended to create the necessary trust to develop new solutions,' Lecornu said on Tuesday before the deputies of the National Assembly in Paris.
According to Ghana News Agency, under pressure from at least two looming no-confidence votes, Lecornu faced parliament in a final push to secure backing for a pared-down 2026 budget. The announcement boosted the newly reappointed prime minister's chances of surviving no-confidence votes expected on Thursday, which were brought by both left and right-wing groupings. The Socialists had made their tolerance of the new government dependent on whether Lecornu announced a suspension of the controversial pension reform in his government statement.
Pushed through parliament without a vote in March 2023, Macron's flagship pension reform triggered months of nationwide protests. The government defended the move as essential to reducing the pension system's growing deficit. Lecornu has now called for a renewed debate on reforming the pension system. The system must remain balanced in the long term and must not increase France's already high state deficit, he said.
Lecornu stated that the costs of the pension system amount to pound 400 million [$463 million] in 2026 and pound 1.8 billion in 2027. This suspension will ultimately benefit 3.5 million French people, and it must therefore be financially balanced, also through savings measures. The draft budget was presented at the new government's first Cabinet meeting earlier on Tuesday, with the stated goal of reducing the budget deficit from an expected 5.4% this year to below 5% next year, according to government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon.
Lecornu's predecessor, Fran§ois Bayrou, was ousted over his budget proposal. Macron has had five prime ministers in under two years. France has been mired in political deadlock since a snap election called by Macron in mid-2024 left no camp with a majority and parliament unable to agree on a deficit-reducing budget. Macron warned during the Cabinet meeting that the no-confidence motions could lead him to dissolve the National Assembly and call new elections, Bregeon said. He reportedly told ministers that some opposition politicians were not seeking debate but dissolution.