PARIS: French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Tuesday suspended a landmark 2023 pension reform until after the 2027 presidential election, bowing to pressure from leftist lawmakers who had demanded such a move to ensure his political survival.
Lecornu, who is facing an uphill battle to survive at least two no-confidence votes later this week, made the announcement in parliament as part of a last-ditch attempt to forge the conditions for passing a slimmed-down 2026 budget.
Lecornu’s decision represents an acknowledgment by French President Emmanuel Macron that mothballing the pension reform - which he considers to be one of his main economic legacies - was the only way to ensure the survival of Lecornu, his sixth prime minister in less than two years.
“I will propose to parliament, starting this autumn, that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the presidential election,” Lecornu told lawmakers. “No increase in the retirement age will take place from now until January 2028.
France is in the midst of its worst political crisis in decades as a succession of minority governments seek to push deficit-reducing budgets through a truculent legislature split into three distinct ideological blocs.
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