Overview

• Marking its 80th anniversary, the Sécurité sociale remains widely valued and credited with universal coverage and the near-eradication of elderly poverty.
• The Cour des comptes has flagged a potential liquidity risk, citing a social-debt burden approaching €300 billion and warning that the accounts are on an uncontrolled trajectory.
• Cades, created in 1996 to absorb social debt and once slated to end in 2009, now runs through 2033, pushing short-term financing strains onto day-to-day cash management.
• Demographic pressures—fewer workers relative to retirees and lower fertility—are weakening the pay-as-you-go model and intensifying intergenerational inequities for younger cohorts.
• Political camps are hardening, with the left and unions urging an expanded scope, including ideas like food-access coverage and funeral protections, while liberal critics press for spending restraint or market alternatives, even as polls show 88% attachment to the system.