Emmanuel Macron Isn’t Really Halting Retirement Reform
France’s government has survived a confidence vote thanks to the Parti Socialiste’s abstention. While Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu promises to suspend unpopular changes to pensions, unions object that the retirement age hike has merely been delayed.
Since 2022, Emmanuel Macron has never had a proper majority in the National Assembly and has burned through platoons of ministers to force through austerity budgets aimed at dismantling France’s social system. (Thomas Traasdahl / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images)
France’s prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, hung on to power last Thursday after a no-confidence motion against his government failed by just eighteen votes. A majority of Parti Socialiste lawmakers, in theory in the opposition, withheld their votes from the motion, ensuring Lecornu’s survival. Why? Because, they say, Lecornu has agreed to retreat on President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform.
For Lecornu, it was a welcome stay of execution. His first government collapsed almost immediately on Monday, October 6. On Friday that same week, Macron reappointed Lecornu, giving him forty-eight hours to negotiate a deal to keep his government alive long enough to pass an austerity budget by the end of 2025.
According to Le Parisien, before reappointing his prime minister, Macron called Parti Socialiste leader Olivier Faure to lock down a guarantee that it wouldn’t topple him. Faure confirmed that the phone call took place — but his party denied any binding deal had been made.
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