Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 27, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 25, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleFrench PM Francois Bayrou urges pension system balance by 2030 amid talks on 2023 reforms, focusing on retirement age and financial stability.
PARIS (Reuters) - Pension negotiations between French unions and employers must chart a path for steering the retirement system's finances back to balance by the end of the decade, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said on Thursday.
Unions and employers federations began talks on Thursday to modify a deeply unpopular 2023 pension overhaul that gradually raises the retirement age two years to 64.
"Negotiators' objective should be to bring the retirement system's finances back to balance in the near future while proposing real improvements for citizens," Bayrou said in a letter to participants seen by Reuters.
"I would like to set a target of 2030," he added.
To set the stage for the talks, the independent audit office said last week that France could ill afford to scrap the 2023 reform, which it estimated would cost 13 billion euros ($13.6 billion).
Even with the 2023 reform, the shortfall between pension contributions from workers and employers and payouts to retirees would reach 15 billion euros by 2035 if nothing more is done to reduce it, the audit office said.
Unions want to scrap the increase in the retirement age while business federations want to avoid additional payroll contributions that would increase the cost of labour.
Bayrou, a long-time debt hawk, has said all options are on the negotiating table between unions and employers, including the retirement age, as long as any changes do not leave the pension system deeper in the red.
($1 = 0.9543 euros)
(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; writing by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
The Prime Minister has set a target of 2030 for bringing the retirement system's finances back to balance.
Unions want to scrap the increase in the retirement age, which was raised to 64 in the 2023 reform, while business federations aim to avoid additional payroll contributions.
The shortfall between pension contributions and payouts is estimated to reach 15 billion euros by 2035 if no further actions are taken.
An independent audit office estimated that scrapping the 2023 reform would cost France approximately 13 billion euros.
The negotiations involve French unions and employers federations, aiming to modify the 2023 pension overhaul.
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