Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announces the suspension of Macron's pension reform during tense parliamentary session in Paris [Image by NZ Herald]
(The Post News) – French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu put President Emmanuel Macron’s centerpiece 2023 pension reform on the back burner, presenting one of the president’s most divisive policies to save his embattled government from losing a no-confidence vote this week.
Lecornu told parliament on Tuesday that he would shelve pension reform until after the 2027 presidential election, killing off Macron’s attempt to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, at least temporarily.
There will be no rise in the retirement age until January 2028,” Lecornu announced, to Socialist Party bench applause.
The move was made against intense political pressure from left-wing lawmakers whose support is crucial to the government’s survival. Socialist Party, kingmaker in France’s fractured National Assembly, stated that it would not pass opposition no-confidence motions up for vote on Thursday.
A Strategic Concession
Lecornu’s action has appeared to have given the crisis-hit government some breathing room. PS parliament leader Boris Vallaud welcomed the action as “a victory,” and MP Laurent Baumel categorically announced the party “will not vote for the ousting of the prime minister, at least not yet.”
The freeze is a political coup against President Macron, whose economic legacy is being subjected to increasing scrutiny after decades of instability and budget belt-tightening. Economists put the cost at €400 million in 2026 and €1.8 billion in 2027, to the benefit of some 3.5 million employees.
The French public deficit in 2024 was 5.8% of GDP, almost two times the EU limit, and the debt has increased to nearly 120% of GDP. Lecornu’s 2026 budget, as an austerity budget, aims to cut the deficit to 4.7% through €30 billion of spending cuts and imposing new taxes on big business and the wealthy.
“Financial stability is needed,” Lecornu said. “This freeze must be offset with efforts of savings, not a higher deficit.”.
Macron’s centrist coalition has struggled to govern since the 2024 snap elections produced a hung parliament divided among the left, far right, and centrists. The far-left France Unbowed and far-right National Rally have vowed to continue their push to unseat the government.
RN leader Jordan Bardella accused Macron’s allies of “fearing the ballot box,” while LFI’s Mathilde Panot told Lecornu: “We will not be participating in your salvation.”
Republican leader Laurent Wauquiez, a right-wing leader, defended Lecornu, saying that his party “won’t be one of those who bring down prime ministers. France needs at least stability.”.
Market Reaction and European Outlook
Financial markets greeted the calm with good cheer. French bank stocks gained moderately, and bond yields fell, a vote of confidence that Lecornu will stop further political collapse. ECB chief Christine Lagarde announced there were “no signs of disorder” in eurozone markets despite France’s budget crisis.
Meanwhile, newly minted Nobel laureate Philippe Aghion warned that France’s biggest risk remains political instability:
“If there were to be a second censure, it would be dramatique. Rates would increase, and France’s reputation would suffer.”
Reinstalled a matter of days after he resigned, Macron’s sixth prime minister in under two years, Lecornu, has won his government time at the cost of the president’s most valued reform. Political analysts pile on to say the move shows the erosion of presidential authority and the growing fragility of the Fifth Republic.
The government of France lives to fight another day, but its future stability is no longer assured.
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