Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu addresses the Assemblée Nationale, in Paris, on October 14, 2025. JULIEN MUGUET FOR LE MONDE
France's Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said Tuesday, October 14, he would back suspending an unpopular reform that raised the age of retirement from 62 to 64 until presidential polls in 2027. "I will propose to Parliament this autumn that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the presidential election. There will be no increase in the retirement age from now until January 2028," he promised lawmakers during his policy speech, responding to a key request from the Socialists, a group crucial to his cabinet's survival.
On Tuesday, Lecornu's new government approved a draft budget in a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron, who warned that any vote to topple the cabinet would force him to dissolve the Assemblée Nationale and call fresh elections. Macron warned during the meeting that any no-confidence motion would be tantamount to a "dissolution motion," government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon said.
France, the eurozone's second-largest economy, is in a political crisis that has spooked markets and raised concern about its minority government's ability to govern and pass measures to ease the country's debt burden. After a week of drama that saw Lecornu resign only to be re-appointed days later, the 39-year-old prime minister has urged his new cabinet to do everything to help France overcome the deadlock.
