![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2234034778-1024x692.jpg\")
France\u2019s newly-appointed Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu shakes hands with France\u2019s outgoing Prime Minister Francois Bayrou . | POOL photo by Ian Langsdon\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\nThe Socialists also claim, rather improbably, that almost all the deficit savings can be achieved via their new proposed wealth tax. And though Lecornu\u2019s government is ready to accept a less draconian wealth tax, which would be levied only on noncommercial assets, the center-right part of the minority coalition warns that any large tax hikes might breach their redlines.<\/p>\n
Most worryingly for Lecornu, though, Socialist leaders have again decided to raise the thorny issue of pension reform. And they say there can be no deal unless the new prime minister suspends the progressive increase of France\u2019s official retirement age from 62 to 64, which was imposed by special government powers in 2023.<\/p>\n
Such a demand would be a deal-breaker. Pension reform is one of the few accomplishments of Macron\u2019s second term. It\u2019s also one of the few deficit-reducing measures passed in recent years \u2014 reversing or suspending it would undermine any remaining market confidence in France\u2019s ability to confront its debt problem.<\/p>\n
France\u2019s newly-appointed Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu shakes hands with France\u2019s outgoing Prime Minister Francois Bayrou . | POOL photo by Ian Langsdon\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
And though the government may offer some kind of revision of the overhaul, improving the terms for women and manual laborers, that may not be enough to secure a non-aggression or non-censure pact with all 66 Socialist deputies \u2014 which Lecornu needs to survive.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Lecornu is gambling on the Socialists\u2019 fear of an early parliamentary election \u2014 something that would become very likely if another prime minister were to fall. But some Socialists, however, say their real fear is making a deal with an unpopular government, which would wreck the party\u2019s chances of holding onto big cities, including Paris, in next year\u2019s municipal elections.<\/p>\n
Now, Lecornu must find a narrow path between these maximalist Socialist demands for taxing the wealthy and the anti-tax redlines drawn by his center-right coalition partners. If he fails to navigate a route through this minefield, he\u2019ll be leading France into truly uncharted territory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Socialists also claim, rather improbably, that almost all the deficit savings can be achieved via their new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[1194,2825,34,2000,299,36,37,24402,38,3976,5111,617,12338,1199,1200],"class_list":{"0":"post-447442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-budget","9":"tag-debt","10":"tag-emmanuel-macron","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-france","14":"tag-francois-bayrou","15":"tag-french-political-crisis","16":"tag-french-politics","17":"tag-governance","18":"tag-parliament","19":"tag-pensions","20":"tag-sebastien-lecornu","21":"tag-services","22":"tag-tax"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115257248609914537","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}