France Pension Reform: Chaos & A New Hope 🔥📈

World News

French lawmakers in the National Assembly overwhelmingly voted to suspend the contentious pension reform plan on Wednesday, a move that appeared to secure the survival of the government. The vote, 255 to 146, followed a significant concession by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, aimed at averting censure. The situation has become increasingly complex due to the aftermath of last year’s snap election, which resulted in a “hung” parliament and the downfall of former Prime Minister Michel Barnier. Now, with budget bills moving forward, lawmakers are making difficult trade-offs to gain support, including offering the Socialist Party, a crucial voting bloc, a suspension of President Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age to 64. This effectively maintains the minimum retirement age at 62 years and nine months, at least until after the 2027 presidential election. Socialist MP Melanie Thomin emphasized that this concession would allow “three and a half million French people to retire earlier.” Despite these changes, the government’s ambitious goal of reducing the budget deficit by €30 billion is likely to be significantly impacted; while borrowing costs have eased as the threat of another government collapse diminishes, the exact shape of the final budget remains uncertain.