Overview

• The four-month ‘conclave’ on pension reform concluded without a formal agreement between trade unions and employer groups.
• Bayrou highlighted 'advances' such as more favorable pension calculations for women with children and the potential to lower the full-rate retirement age to 66.5 years.
• He has allotted social partners an additional two to three weeks to resolve remaining disputes, centering on the treatment of work-related hardship (pénibilité).
• The Socialist Party has lodged a censure motion against the government, but it is unlikely to pass without support from the National Rally.
• Absent a consensus, the government will draft compromise provisions into the Social Security financing bill to be debated in Parliament this autumn.