Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu told the French parliament in a policy speech that he would back suspending unpopular plans to raise the retirement age until after the next presidential elections.

"I will propose to parliament this autumn that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the presidential election," Lecornu said. "There will be no increase in the retirement age from now until January 2028." 

However, Lecornu told the chamber that delaying the plans would have to be offset with reductions in spending, not by increasing the deficit. He put the costs at €400 million (roughly $460 million) in 2026, and at €1.8 billion in 2027.

If Lecornu's proposal materializes, this would mean that President Emmanuel Macron would fail in his bid to raise France's retirement age during his tenure, with presidential elections set in 2027 and Macron having served his maximum two terms.

Macron had made the unpopular decision to force the reform through bypassing parliamentary votes in 2023, prompting months of protests.

Lecornu is trying to get at least a partial budget for 2026 through parliament so that his tentative government can operate, amid stiff opposition from France's influential socialist and far-right blocs. 

Centrist minority government outnumbered on the flanks

Both the far-left and far-right blocs in France's parliament oppose the plans.

Lecornu is Macron's fifth prime minister in roughly two years as a series of governments have fallen trying to implement cost-cutting budgets. He has resigned from the position once, only to be reinstated by Macron at the end of last week.

With at least two confidence votes against Lecornu's new government pending this week, and after some in France even urged Macron to try to solve the impasse by declaring earlier presidential elections instead, Lecornu's change of tune could in turn indicate a willingness to back down on president's part.

Macron's proposal was to increase the official retirement age from 62 to 64, which would still be among the most generous rules in the developed world.

In the G7, only Japan has a lower official retirement age, at 60. 

France's national debt was estimated at roughly 114% of GDP by the European Central Bank as of the first quarter of 2025.

Edited by: Roshni Majumdar