French 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 second government led by Sébastien Lecornu, appointed this Sunday, has already lasted more hours than the first one – which was only in force for 14 hours –, but it could go down in history as the second shortest of the Fifth Republic if either of the two motions of no confidence presented this Monday by the National Rally (RN), the far-right party of Marine Le Pen, and by La France Insoumise (LFI), the party considered to be radical left-wing and led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, succeed. Both motions will be voted on this week, probably on Thursday, and it is not unlikely that one of the two will be approved.

The Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security has closed a preliminary agreement this Monday with employers' associations CEOE and Cepyme and unions CCOO and UGT for the reform of pensions that involves the repeal of the reform the government of Mariano Rajoy carried out in 2013. It is also aligned with the planned reform included in the Recovery Plan presented in Brussels. ARA has had access to this document, which contains as its main points the revalorisation of pensions based on inflation, the abolition of the sustainability factor (which linked pensions to life expectancy) and the goal of delaying real retirement age (the average is now 64.6) to bring it closer to the legal retirement age (which is between 65 and 66). In addition, to reduce the Social Security deficit, the so-called improper expenses, such as non-contributory pensions, will be taken out of the general state budget, which will contribute 2% of GDP, about €21bn.