With the Lecornu 2 government hanging by a thread, the French prime minister attempted a rescue at the last minute: he suspended the pension reform until the next presidential elections in an attempt to gain the trust of the socialists
An about-face on the pension reform was in the air as the Socialist Party had announced a motion of censure this evening, should Sébastien Lecornu decide to go ahead with the reform. Shortly before the prime minister’s speech to the National Assembly, the socialists had communicated their demands: “Immediate and complete suspension of the pension reform”, “derogation from article 49.3” to allow the vote on fiscal justice measures and “the easing of the financial trajectory”.
With the PS, decisive for the stability of the government, already ready to turn its back on it, Lecornu circumvented the obstacle, announcing: «I will propose to Parliament as early as the autumn that the 2023 reform be suspended until the presidential elections, there will be no increase in the retirement age from now until January 2028, as the Cfdt union further requested yesterday». And he specified that the suspension will also involve the increase in contributions necessary for a full-rate pension. However, he warned that pension reform “will be at the center of the debate in the next presidential election campaign”.
The reform put on hold provides for an increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64. Lecornu, again in this regard, underlined that the suspension will cost 400 million in 2026 and 1.8 billion in 2027. Therefore «it will have to be compensated by savings. It cannot happen at the price of a greater deficit” which must also be “less than 5%” in the 2026 budget.
No “regime crisis”
This afternoon the Prime Minister, in his general policy speech to the National Assembly, immediately pointed the finger at Rassemblement National and France Insoumise, claiming that «some would like the situation to turn into a regime crisis, but this will not happen.”
He then specified: «I accepted the mission entrusted to me by the President of the Republic, because France must have a budget, because there are emergency measures to be adopted without delay. It’s a duty. I will complete it under certain conditions which clearly derive from the composition of this assembly.” However, he continued to issue warnings, declaring: «We live and will continue to live in an era of crises: either we endure them, or we use them, or we change, or we will be changed. That’s what it means to get rid of it. Those who do not change, those who cling to old reflexes and attitudes, will disappear.”
Lecornu has made it clear that he will not resort to article 49.3 of the French Constitution which allows voting on the budget and laws relating to the welfare state without a parliamentary vote. And regarding the budget, he reported that he had proposed to French President Emmanuel Macron “a government that, within three months, delivers to France a serious and reliable budget, useful and positive for the French people”.
Reactions
Before his speech, it had already been announced that the two motions of no confidence presented by Rassemblement National and France Insoumise will be voted on on Thursday morning. The French Communist Party, after the suspension of the reform, sang “victory”, while the Greens announced that they will support the motion of no confidence. Manuel Bompard, of France insoumise, commented that Lecornu’s decision is nothing more than “a delay tactic”. And Jordan Bardella of Rassemblement National wrote on social media: «In the National Assembly, from the Republicans to the Socialist Party, it is the friendly circle of Emmanuel Macron’s saviors who take turns speaking on the podium».
