French PM Bayrou pushes pensions debate to autumn in attempt to buy time
Many saw the "conclave" on pensions – which ended with no agreement between labor unions and employers' organizations – as a failure. In reality, it was a "step forward" and a "hope for democracy," as French Prime Minister François Bayrou claimed on Thursday, June 26, displaying his talent for turning lead into gold. Standing before an open window overlooking the park at the Hôtel de Matignon, flanked by ministers Catherine Vautrin (labor, health, welfare and families) and Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet (labor and employment), and under the gaze of nearly his entire cabinet, the prime minister laid out the "progress" that he thought had been made thanks to the "remarkably useful" work of unions and employers' organizations since the end of February.
He announced that a compromise had been found to reduce the age for a full pension from 67 to 66 and a half. A consensus also emerged to "significantly and immediately improve pensions for women [...] who have had children."
At the top of the "impressive" list of decisions reached with "at least implicit" agreement, Bayrou cited the fact that negotiators – labor unions CFDT, CGE-CGC and CFTC – had not challenged the raising of the minimum retirement age to 64, as the 2023 Borne law stipulated.
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