Pension reform, a key pledge from President Emmanuel Macron’s presidential election campaign, is no longer a major priority for the government, new Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has said.

Mr Macron had said multiple times that he planned to raise the pension age in France from 62 to 65 years, and said that the move would be one of the only ways to tackle the pension deficit.

However, new PM Ms Borne has now said that it is no longer seen as a “beacon” goal of the government, and Labour Minister Olivier Dussopt has said that instead, the government will prioritise “consultation and dialogue” on the issue.

Mr Macron had said that he pledged to “gradually raise the legal retirement age to 65 years”, and had also planned to end “the main special schemes (EDF, RATP…) for new workers, as we have done for SNCF”.

He said that he wanted to increase the minimum pension age “by four months each year”, reaching age 64 by 2027-2028.

Yet, the president also promised “fair consideration of cases of disability, long or arduous careers”, “support to prevent professional burnout, and to fight against unemployment among seniors”.

He also said that he would “continue discussions on a simpler universal scheme for future generations”.

However, this consideration of a universal system had to be suspended in March 2020, as the government – under then-PM Edouard Philippe – switched its focus to managing the Covid-19 pandemic.

Read more @Connexion France