New French Prime Minister François Bayrou attempted to secure the survival of his fragile centre-right Cabinet by making concessions to his rivals in his first government statement on Tuesday.
Bayrou offered labour groups three months to devise a fairer pension plan to replace the controversial reform pushed through by President Emmanuel Macron, which caused mass protests across the country in 2023.
If the parties cannot come to an agreement on an alternative reform that does not require extra costs, the 2023 reform will remain in force, Bayrou said.
Macron passed a pension reform without a vote in 2023 changing the retirement age from 62 to 64, justifying it as a way to plug a hole in the pension fund.
Bayrou said the increase in the retirement age could be addressed in the new plans.
By showing himself willing to revise the reform, Bayrou is extending a hand to the Socialists, whose support he needs to ensure his political survival and that of his government.
Bayrou’s government does not have an absolute majority in the National Assembly and the left-wing France Unbowed party has already announced that it intends to call for a vote of no confidence after the government statement on Tuesday.
In December, France’s left-wing camp and the right-wing nationalists led by Marine Le Pen brought down the previous short-lived government of Michel Barnier over a dispute about a planned austerity budget with such a vote.
The Socialists signalled that they would not support the vote of no confidence if Bayrou offered concessions on pensions.
Bayrou also called for stability and a willingness to make cuts in view of France’s excessive new debt, but did not give any indication of how he plans to get the country’s finances under control.
His government urgently needs to establish a budget for this year.
In his 90-minute speech, the prime minister also took on a core conservative issue, saying France needed strict checks on immigration.
Returning to one of his common talking points, Bayrou expressed openness to introducing proportional representation for the National Assembly.
The country currently uses a first-past-the-post system, usually with two rounds of voting, which means only the votes for the winner in each constituency count towards the allocation of seats.
Candidates from small parties often do not even make it to the second round of voting and many in France complain that parliament is not very representative.
There are three large blocs in the National Assembly – Macron’s centrist one, the left-wing one and Le Pen’s one dominated by her National Rally party – none of which has an absolute majority.
After the start of his speech, the 73-year-old briefly lost his train of thought and fumbled through his notes, explaining: “My pages are a bit mixed up.”
