French Deputies Adopt Revenue Section of Social Security Financing Bill
The French deputies adopted the revenue section of the 2026 Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS) on Saturday evening, paving the way for the highly anticipated debate in the National Assembly on the suspension of the pension reform included in the expenditure section.
A Narrow Vote
The vote in favor of the text, which was heavily amended compared to the government's initial project, was very close: 176 votes for and 161 against. This adoption now allows deputies to move on to examining the expenditure section, including the flagship article suspending the pension reform, before a global vote on the entire text scheduled for Wednesday.
Government Urges Adoption
On Friday, the government had urged deputies to vote on the revenue section "this weekend," emphasizing that without this adoption, debates on other measures of the PLFSS - health, prevention, hospital, and suspension of the pension reform - could not take place.
Suspension of Pension Reform
The suspension of the 2023 pension reform is a central commitment of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, aiming to avoid the censure of his government and to have the 2026 budget adopted, whose adoption had been delayed by a political crisis that led to the fall of the previous government.
Prime Minister's Promise
In his general policy speech in October, Sébastien Lecornu promised to suspend the reform until the 2027 presidential election, specifying that no increase in the retirement age would be applied before January 2028. The Prime Minister also recalled that this suspension would cost 400 million euros in 2026 and 1.8 billion euros in 2027, a deficit that would have to be compensated by savings, while committing not to use Article 49.3 to have texts adopted without a vote.
