Lecornu announces the suspension of pension reform to prevent the fall of the French government.

ParisFrench Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has saved the first hurdle. The no-confidence motions threatening his government won't be voted on until Thursday, but the Socialists, who hold the key to saving or bringing down the government, have hinted that they will not vote in favor following Lecornu's announcement to suspend the pension reform. During his first speech in the National Assembly, the prime minister pledged to pause President Macron's reform, the main demand of the left.

The Socialist Party had demanded that Lecornu stop implementing the reform, passed in 2023 to extend the retirement age, as a condition for not bringing down the government. "This fall, I will propose in Parliament to suspend the pension reform until the 2027 presidential elections," Lecornu announced. "We consider it both a victory and a first step that allows us to glimpse the following steps: blocking and repeal," stressed the Socialist parliamentary spokesman, Boris Vallaud. The spokesman has not explicitly said that they will not support the motion of no confidence, but his speech suggests this.

If the Socialists' rejection is confirmed, Lecornu would be saved from falling four days after being appointed on Thursday. Marine Le Pen's far-right (National Rally) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon's radical left (La France Insoumise) each presented a motion of no confidence on Monday, and the Socialists had warned that they would also present one if Lecornu did not accept their conditions.

The party led by Olivier Faure has a chance to ensure that one of the motions is approved and topple the new executive, appointed on Sunday. The far right, the rebels, the environmentalists, and the communists have all announced they will vote for no confidence, but together they do not have an absolute majority and would also need the votes of the Socialists for it to pass. In principle, the Republicans (right) will not join the motion to overthrow Lecornu, but the possibility of rebel deputies voting for no confidence is also not ruled out. The conservative party is deeply divided, and in France, it is common for deputies from one party to vote against their leaders' demands.

Macron's Legacy

Pension reform is Macron's great legacy, the most important one approved during his second termUntil now, the president has refused to touch a single comma of the law that extended the retirement age to 64, but the fragile and unstable political situation is forcing him to soften his position.

The reform was approved in 2023 without parliamentary consensus. The government made use of a very powerful constitutional tool, Article 49.3, which allows the prime minister to approve laws without submitting them to a vote in the Assembly. It is more than a decree because Parliament does not have to validate it. When a head of government uses it, the only way to annul the law is by passing a motion of censure. Its approval without parliamentary endorsement created considerable unrest, especially among left-wing parties and unions, and sparked citizen protests in the streets for weeks.

Before the reform, France had one of the lowest retirement ages in Europe, at 62. With the approval of the law, the legal retirement age will rise to 64 in 2030. However, since the increase is gradual, if the suspension of the reform is confirmed, French people will only have to work until they are 62 years and nine months old, the current age. According to Lecornu's announcement, the reform will remain pending until after the 2027 presidential elections.

Lecornu announced that he will organize a conference on pensions and labor in consultation with social partners "in the coming weeks" to make proposals to improve the current pension reform. If the conference is able to reach an agreement, the prime minister has pledged to draft a law that will be voted on in the Assembly. "The suspension of the pension reform must be an opportunity," he stressed.

Dissolution of the Assembly

If Parliament ends up bringing down the new government, this time Macron has made it very clear: he will dissolve the National Assembly and call elections. "Motions of no confidence are motions of dissolution," the President of the Republic said during the new government's first cabinet meeting, held this Tuesday morning, according to government spokesperson Maud Bregeon. Lecornu is willing "to move" his positions and negotiate, but he will not accept "whatever," the spokesperson warned.

If Lecornu overcomes the no confidence votes on Thursday, his government's priority will be to negotiate and approve the budget with the political forces. That won't be easy either. The draft budget presented by the Prime Minister includes most of the measures from the previous document presented by François Bayrou's government, which brought about his downfall, such as a freeze on pensions in 2026 and an increase in the amount French people pay for doctor visits or medical tests. Lecornu has expressed openness to discussing the measures and even raising the deficit target for 2026—set at 4.7% of GDP in the draft law—to make tax cuts or increases more flexible.