Overview
- Lawmakers are voting Tuesday on the 2026 social security bill, a decisive test for Sébastien Lecornu’s minority government with the result uncertain.
- The package postpones the retirement-age increase to 64 until after President Emmanuel Macron’s term, a concession sought by the Socialist Party.
- Socialists signal support, while the National Rally says it is very likely to oppose and renews calls for snap elections as some centrists and conservatives consider voting no or abstaining.
- Lecornu warns defeat would widen the funding gap from roughly €17 billion to about €30 billion, endangering healthcare, pensions and welfare financing and inviting political turmoil including resignation calls.
- If the Assembly approves the bill, it goes to a Senate hostile to suspending the pension reform before returning to the lower house, with the Senate set to vote on the separate state budget on December 15.