The French Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has said he will propose to scrap the 2023 reform to increase the country’s retirement age from 62 to 64, at a cost of €2.2bn.

Lecornu, who was reappointed as Prime Minister by President, Emmanuel Macron on Friday, 10 October, days after he resigned from the position, is facing a potential no-confidence vote.

The long-running pensions dispute is a contentious issue for the French government, which saw former Prime Minister, François Bayrou, ousted from his position in September.

Delivering a speech to the National Assembly yesterday, 14 October, Lecornu admitted that French workers “start working too late and retire too early” but the 2023 reform caused “a sense of injustice".

“So is the government ready for a new debate on the future of our pension system? The answer is yes,” he said.

He continued: “I have always said that the future of our pensions would be at the heart of the next presidential campaign. But we must recognise that this debate is being called for now by legitimate political and trade union forces. Paradoxically, the few months between now and the presidential election may be an opportunity to make progress, including on the difficult issue of pensions.

“That is why, this autumn, I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until after the presidential election. There will be no increase in the retirement age between now and January 2028, as specifically requested by the CFDT trade union.”

Despite his proposal to renege on the reform, he warned that there are fewer contributors to the system than before and more pensioners, a reality faced by many European countries.

Therefore, he said that a plan will need to be developed, and the National Assembly will debate pensions again.

He stated: “The assembly wanted the government to suspend the reform pending a debate, a solution, a vote. I am doing so. This will help to inform the debate during the upcoming presidential election.

“But I want to be very clear: I will not endorse just anything. The cost of the suspension to our pension system is €400m in 2026 and €1.8bn in 2027. This suspension will ultimately benefit 3.5 million French people. It will therefore have to be offset by savings. It cannot be done at the cost of an increased deficit.”

Furthermore, Lecornu warned that he will not endorse a result that would jeopardise France’s credibility or its pension system.

As part of his plan, the Prime Minister has suggested holding a conference on pensions in the coming weeks in an attempt to reach an agreement with the social partners.

“It will address the issue of the overall management of our pension system. Some want points-based systems, others want capitalisation-based systems, and others want to abandon any reference to age,” he said.

In addition, the country's social partners need to decide whether they want to take on the responsibility of the pension system, which would return France to its “historical roots” and align with its European neighbours.

“The government is ready for this. I have confidence in social democracy and confidence in parliamentary democracy.

“If the conference concludes, the government will transpose the agreement into law. Otherwise, it will be up to the presidential candidates to make their proposals, and to the French people to decide. It will be able to deliver its initial conclusions next spring,” he concluded.

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