{"id":121793,"date":"2025-10-14T16:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T16:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/121793\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T16:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T16:57:09","slug":"french-pm-offers-to-freeze-macrons-flagship-pension-reforms-to-save-government-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/121793\/","title":{"rendered":"French PM offers to freeze Macron\u2019s flagship pension reforms to save government \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The French<\/a> prime minister has offered to suspend president Emmanuel Macron<\/a>\u2019s unpopular pensions reform in a last-ditch attempt to secure parliamentary support for the 2026 budget and save his premiership.<\/p>\n

In a big breakthrough for the left and a U-turn on Macron\u2019s flagship economic policy, S\u00e9bastien Lecornu said on Tuesday that raising the retirement age to 64 would be suspended until 2027, when presidential elections are due. <\/p>\n

But parties would have to agree on other savings to keep next year\u2019s deficit at under 5 per cent of national output, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs the government ready for a new debate on the pensions reform? The answer is yes,\u201d Mr Lecornu told lawmakers in his first speech to parliament, in which he also promised additional taxes on companies.<\/p>\n

The prime minister, who resigned last week only to be reappointed days later by Mr Macron as France\u2019s political crisis spiralled, has struggled to meet the demands of various factions in the hung parliament in return for them backing his proposals on how to cut France\u2019s high public deficit next year.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Emmanuel Macron calls for \u2018stability\u2019 as opposition threatens no-confidence voteOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\"TheThe cover of Le Point with the title ‘Mr President, come out with your head held high’, next to the cover of L Express with the title, “A French Rout”. Photograph: Nicolas Guyonnet \/ Hans Lucas\/AFP\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

The Socialist Party, on whom Lecornu depends for his survival, had urged the government to freeze the controversial 2023 reform that raises the retirement age by two years to 64. The suspension would cost \u20ac400 million in 2026 and \u20ac1.8 billion in 2027, Lecornu said.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s budget has become a central battleground in the country\u2019s political crisis, crystallising arguments in a hung National Assembly. <\/p>\n

Without an agreement, France can avoid a US-style shutdown and roll this year\u2019s budget into 2026, but the disputes have unnerved markets already concerned by the gaping deficit and caused three French governments to fall in the past year. <\/p>\n

Mr Lecornu\u2019s commitments on pensions were applauded by socialist MPs, while leading conservative lawmaker Laurent Wauquiez said that the country needs a budget before the end of the year, opening a narrow path towards his government surviving. <\/p>\n

The premier outlined a \u20ac30bn fiscal package of spending cuts and tax rises, designed to take the deficit to 4.7 per cent of national output in 2026 from 5.4 per cent this year. <\/p>\n

The prime minister said everything was up for debate, however, and the target could be eased, although he urged parties to agree to keep the deficit under 5 per cent. <\/p>\n

While stopping short of announcing a sweeping wealth tax, which entrepreneurs had raised concerns about, Mr Lecornu said there would be an \u201cexceptional contribution from large fortunes\u201d and levies on holding companies that can sometimes escape taxes on dividends. <\/p>\n

The government is set to extend a measure to raise corporate taxes, which had already been used in 2024 and 2025 to balance the budget but was supposed to be temporary \u2014 a move likely to alienate big French businesses. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be tax cuts for small and medium businesses and there will be targeted and exceptional tax rises for some very large businesses … to better share the efforts among contributors\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n

Throughout his address to parliament, Mr Lecornu also made another concession to the Socialist party. Repeating a pledge made prior to the collapse of his first government, he said he would not use the 49.3 constitutional clause that enables the government to force through legislation without a parliamentary vote. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe government will propose, we will debate and you will vote,\u201d he repeated on several occasions, raising the prospect of difficult debates on all elements of government policy.<\/p>\n

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The French prime minister has offered to suspend president Emmanuel Macron\u2019s unpopular pensions reform in a last-ditch attempt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[79,18,6586,2220,19,17,234,235],"class_list":{"0":"post-121793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-emmanuel-macron","11":"tag-france","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}