French Minister Floats Pension Indexation Change As Deficit Pressure Mounts in France

Lescure made the remarks on Bluesky in response to criticism from Thierry Breton, a former minister and former European commissioner, who on Sunday told BFMTV that the government had frozen the pension reform at the start of the year. That reform was supposed to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64. Breton said the government suspended the reform in January to save itself — it was a demand from the Socialists to avoid a no-confidence vote — and now faces a worse solution that penalizes current pensioners. Lescure disputed Breton's figures on the cost of suspending the reform.

Some experts have estimated that if pensions above 3,000 euros gross were only revalued at half the inflation rate (2.1% in July), it would raise just 700 million euros. That figure would rise to 1.5 billion euros if applied to those earning more than 2,000 euros.