The president believes that pension reform remains “indispensable” and will have to be taken up by the next head of state to reduce public spending.
Recognizing “not having been fully followed on the issue of pensions”, Emmanuel Macron estimated Thursday that “those who come after” will have to “restart the project”, judging this measure “the most effective and relevant” to reduce public spending. Less than a year before the presidential election, the head of state delivered a blunt observation on an issue that has marked his two five-year term.
An unfinished project
Questioned on France 2, Emmanuel Macron declared: “We will have to resume the pensions project. It is essential in a country which is aging.” For the president, not making this reform would be “hypocritical” because “it is the largest item of public expenditure”. He insisted on the fact that “those who come after” will have to “take over the work”, stressing that this reform constitutes “the most effective and relevant thing” to reduce public spending.
In two five-year terms, Emmanuel Macron himself has not succeeded in carrying out this task: his promise of a “universal system” was first stopped dead by Covid, then his increase in the legal age from 62 to 64 was suspended after its failed dissolution and the need to find a budgetary compromise with the socialists.
The president admitted: “I was not entirely followed on the question of pensions”, even saying he was “obligated to note” that the last one “was not accepted (nor) supported” and that the “parliamentary majority” emerging from the polls in 2024 “returned to it”.
Emmanuel Macron conceded: “I deplore it personally, but it is democratic life”, while emphasizing that “our social model must continue to be reformed”, otherwise the “country which has the most generous social model in the world” will not “be able to have lasting power”. But this “will be the task of those who come after”, he said less than a year before the presidential election which will designate his successor. Without indicating his preference among the declared or anticipated candidates, Emmanuel Macron said he “trusted” the French to “choose what is good for them and seize their destiny”.
A recurring and sensitive file
Pension reform remains a sensitive and recurring issue in French public debate, regularly raised to guarantee the financial sustainability of the system in the face of the aging population. Emmanuel Macron had already attempted systemic reform during his first five-year term, interrupted by the Covid-19 crisis. His second term did not make it possible to overcome political blockages, leaving the entire question to the next majority.
