“The suspension of the pension reform is the price of compromise”, points out Roland Lescure, Minister of the Economy and Finance

The suspension of the pension reform and its terms were clarified on Thursday, October 23, with the use of the corrective letter recorded in the Council of Ministers, formalizing the adoption of the measure in the 2026 draft budget for Social Security. At the same time, the examination of the revenue part of the 2026 budget ended with a rejection on Wednesday in the Finance Committee, where several measures were rejected, including the modification of the allowance for retirees. Before the opening of the debates, Friday in the hemicycle, on the government’s copy, the “20 Heures” receives Roland Lescure, Minister of the Economy in the government of Sébastien Lecornu, to discuss these subjects.

This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the interview above. Click on the video to watch it in full.

Jean-Baptiste Marteau: We know that the debates in committee are a warm-up round before the examination in the hemicycle of the National Assembly. But all the same, the PS which abstains, the right which votes against, only the Macronists who approve this part of the budget. Do you still have a little hope of getting this budget passed by the end of the year?

Roland Lescure : Yes, you said it, the Finance Committee is a bit of a trial run. The government is not represented there. Parliamentarians test their arguments, test amendments, the balance of power is also being tested a little. But they vote against it in the end. And the real race starts tomorrow. Tomorrow, we will start from the government’s copy, and as we have said, it is a starting point. This will clearly not be the arrival point. We will have to negotiate, I was going to say really negotiate, that is to say that every vote will count. You remember that 49.3, for two years, was: we basically vote what we want, because in any case, all that will be swept away by 49.3. By committing not to have recourse to article 49 paragraph 3 of the Constitution, the Prime Minister introduced a change of method which is very important and which, ultimately, places everyone in front of their responsibility.

But it only works if everyone compromises with each other. Is this possible? Nobody seems ready to do it.

No, in fact, I think that, apart from the extreme right and the extreme left, which we know do not wish to vote for this budget because above all they want a dissolution, all the other groups, basically, are ready to do so. Will we be able to do it? That will be the question for the days to come, but I really feel good will from everyone. You know that last week there was a vote of no confidence in the government. Apart from La France Insoumise and the National Rally, in each parliamentary group, including the Communists, the ecologists, the Republican Right, the Socialists, there are deputies who have chosen not to vote for censure. That means that these deputies want to debate.

But for example, the PS says it in the report: “we want a real tax on the wealthiest”. This is not the case, the Zucman tax was rejected in committee. What do you tell them at the PS?

I tell them that, first of all, the initial copy requires effort from everyone. We have to remember it all the same, because we see a lot of billions flying in all directions this year. It’s true that this copy requires effort from everyone. There are two areas of concern. There are people in the most difficult situations, and that will be part of the debates to come. Then the wealthiest people will also be part of the debates. I want to tell you two things. First of all, the Minister of Finance is responsible for the framework. Before each plus, there will have to be a minus.

Savings will be required for each new expense.

Of course, because otherwise, we degrade the budget. And that, beyond European commitments, beyond the financial markets, the rating agencies, is above all very bad news for the French.

And the second point?

And the second point is that yes to tax justice, no to tax overbidding. So we obviously have to remain reasonable in a country which already taxes the most in the world. Now, there is a real demand for tax justice and we must respond to that. The parliamentary groups must respond and we must negotiate solutions which, I am sure, exist.

One point seems to be protected by the government for the moment, and that is the suspension of the pension reform. There is a corrective letter which was adopted this morning in the Council of Ministers. Does that mean that, whatever happens, the reform will not apply before January 2028?

This means that, whatever happens, the debate will take place. The concern of the socialists is that, as the Prime Minister was committed to tabling an amendment, we will not have time to discuss this amendment.

And that the budget is voted on at the end?

It will have to be voted on. The government is committed, and I will tell you one thing, it is the only thing that the Prime Minister put in his general policy declaration, in any case the most important thing. So we place our responsibility in this suspension.

Now, the oppositions must vote on the finance bill, otherwise there is no suspension of the pension reform.

The suspension of pension reform is the price of compromise. There’s a lot of talk about compromise these days. This is the price we have to pay, including people who supported this reform, to have a compromise. So I hope that it will be voted on, in any case, it will be debated. That is the Prime Minister’s commitment, and he materialized it today with this famous corrective letter.

There is the price, there is also the cost of this reform, 100 million euros in 2026, 1.4 billion in 2027. Who will pay this billion and a half? The government said it today in the letter, retirees and supplementary health insurance are involved.

No, but we cannot be a government that says: for every plus, we will need a minus and propose a plus without a minus. So we propose a minus. But obviously, that’s open to debate as well.

But we will have to pay for this reform, it will have a cost that the French will have to pay.

In any case, today we face a major challenge which is to stabilize our public debt. For that, we must be below 3% in 2029, I will be the guarantor of that. And all that is a margin of the staircase. To be less than 3% in 2029, we must start in 2027. And I will tell you one thing: the socialists who asked for the suspension of the pension reform, they also have financing routes. So that’s what we’re going to have to debate about.

And retirees will therefore have to be called upon to contribute. They will pay part of this suspension of pension reform.

In this budget, everyone is making an effort, including retirees. But you know, and they know it, that we protected them like nowhere in the world during Covid, during the Ukrainian crisis where pensions were indexed.

So now you’re asking them for extra effort?

No, we ask for effort from everyone. We want them to be equitably distributed, to be fair. But it’s true that it’s an effort budget, I don’t want to sell you the unsellable. But these efforts must be fair, they must be effective, every euro. In fact, the budget is not an accounting exercise, it is an economic exercise too. We must be efficient, we must preserve essential public services. We have to create growth, because obviously, the growth of tomorrow is also the social model of the day after tomorrow.

A final word, regarding the damage linked to storm Benjamin, you were traveling to Enedis headquarters earlier. How many homes are still without electricity this evening? We mentioned the figure of 60,000 at the start of the newspaper.

So, first of all, a death, a German tourist, so obviously I send my condolences to his family. The Enedis teams were on duty all day. What I can tell you is that as I speak to you, there are 38,000 homes still without electricity. We will work to establish it very quickly. We were at 140,000 this morning, so thank you to the teams who worked hard.

And will everyone have electricity back as quickly as possible this evening?

I don’t want to give you a time, but given the pace we’re at, I hope it will come very quickly.