T
hreatened with marginalization since 2017, France's Socialists achieved an undeniable victory by forcing President Emmanuel Macron to back down on his contested 2023 pension reform. The suspension of the raising of the retirement age to 64 was a hard-earned compromise with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's government, which lacks a majority to pass the 2026 budget bills. The measure, backed by the Assemblée Nationale on Wednesday, November 12, by 255 votes to 146, fulfilled the threefold goal set by the Socialists. They sought to erase the "democratic wound" inflicted in March 2023 when the deeply unpopular reform was forced through Parliament without a vote; to force the presidential camp, which believed it could push through the two-year retirement age increase despite repeated protests by over one million people, to back down; and to secure an immediate gain for a significant number of future retirees.
Boris Vallaud, president of the group of Socialist MPs, and Olivier Faure, the Socialist leader, at the Assemblée Nationale in Paris, November 12, 2025. JULIEN MUGUET FOR LE MONDE
The suspension of the reform until 1 January 2028 should enable 3.5 million people to bring forward their retirement by a few months. Those who will be able to retire between 2026 and 2030 are likely to take advantage of this new right secured thanks to a completely unprecedented political situation.
