Senate opposes suspension of pension reform

Dominated by the right wing, the upper house voted 190 to 108 to reject delaying until January 2028 the “Borne” reform that raised the legal age of departure to 64.

Inflexibly, the Senate on Tuesday, November 25 voted against suspending the pension reform, an additional signal of a budget compromise that is still unlikely to be seen in Parliament, despite the hopes of Sébastien Lecornu and Olivier Faure.

Dominated by the right, the upper house voted 190 to 108 to reject postponing until January 2028 the “Borne” reform that raised the legal age of departure to 64, a key condition proposed by socialists to avoid censorship of the government.

The measure could be re-imposed by the National Assembly on the Social Security budget, but a strong rejection by the Senate risks irreconcilable differences between the two chambers of Parliament, at least in this text.

The upper house in particular reintroduced another particularly vexing measure: a freeze on social benefits and pensions in 2026. But senators kept pensions under 1,400 euros per month which will remain indexed to inflation.

These deep disagreements between the Assembly and Senate risk leading to the failure of a joint committee (CMP) scheduled for Wednesday evening on the Social Security budget, following a Senate vote scheduled for the afternoon.

Consequences: The National Assembly must decide on the draft Social Security budget in new discussions next week.

An impossible compromise? “We will make it happen,” but on Monday head of government Sébastien Lecornu and PS first secretary, Olivier Faure, hit back using the same formula. Emmanuel Macron also said on Tuesday, on RTL, that he had done so “good wishes” that members of parliament, “whose responsibility”reach an agreement.