The French Parliament has suspended the reform of the controversial pension law approved in 2023. The measure, a non-negotiable condition of the Socialist Party in order not to overthrow the current government of Sébastien Lecornu, is one of the biggest defeats of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and his party. This afternoon the Renaissance group, Macron’s party, had to stand out in the vote on a law that it had defended tooth and nail only two years ago. But there were no alternatives if we wanted to avoid a new fall of the executive. The result of the vote was 255 votes in favor of the suspension and 146 against.
The result of the vote has, for the moment, no official effect on the law. However, the vote expressed by deputies in the National Assembly on Wednesday afternoon is the first nail in the coffin of the pension reform approved by Elisabeth Borne’s government in 2023. It was the first time since then that deputies were able to express their opinion on the law which, among other things, provided for the postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
The vote created strange bedfellows and went forward thanks to the support of socialists, Marine Le Pen’s far right and ecologists. The Republicans, the Gaullist right, voted against. And the Macronists, promoters of the controversial reform, overwhelmingly abstained.
Former prime minister and president of Renaissance, Gabriel Attal, whose group abstained from the vote, admitted that suspending the reform “will not be good for the Budget”. “We did not vote with joy, but with clarity. We are aware that this suspension is not good news for the country’s economy. But we are also aware that we do not want to hinder the compromise reached between the prime minister and the socialist group on this issue,” he said.
The vote is part of the tiring examination of the bill on the financing of social security, since the government, as it had promised with the Socialist Party, has presented an amendment that proposes to suspend the controversial reform. This suspension would remain in effect until the 2027 presidential election.
The left is once again divided on the measure. In fact, France Insumisa voted against the suspension, even though it had rejected the reform at the time. A position, repealed or nothing, that contrasts with that of the far right of Marine Le Pen, who voted in favor of the suspension.
