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France's PM Sébastien Lecornu has informed the National Assembly that he backs freezing divisive 2023 pension reforms, ahead of critical votes of no-confidence in the coming days.

The changes, which elevated the retirement age from 62 to 64, were considered key reforms in the French president's administration.

"This autumn I will present to the assembly that we suspend the retirement age changes until the next presidential vote," Lecornu declared to support from socialist groups.

Lecornu was reinstated days ago only four days after he stepped down, and requires the backing of left-wing lawmakers in the assembly if his administration is to remain in power.

Government Challenges

Political rivals on the far right and left-wing have demanded confidence votes on the administration, for this Thursday and are demanding new elections.

The Left-wing group stated they would be willing to support the new government, but only if it guarantees a full suspension of the president's pension changes.

"If he does not clearly state the words 'full and instant suspension of the retirement changes', it will be a vote of no-confidence," lawmaker the socialist politician commented on television.

"The decision rests in his political survival in his own hands. He knows what he has to do if he wants to avoid being the government leader who resigns every week."

Previous Context

The changes were finally pushed through the assembly in spring 2023, under a year after Macron was elected for a re-election.

There had been a lengthy time of political debate, industrial action and civil unrest, and in the end the bill had to go through without a formal consent in parliament using a government tool known as 49:3.

Recently, Lecornu said it was something many French people recalled as a "political scar" .

Budgetary Impact

On Tuesday he explicitly explained to representatives that suspending the retirement changes would require 400 million euros in 2026 and a additional billions in 2027. This will have to be "compensated by other savings," Lecornu announced.

Lecornu is the country's third government leader in the past year but even if he remains in office he needs to get a budget through parliament that brings down a financial shortfall estimated to reach over five percent of gross domestic product this year.

The country's public debt earlier this year stood at €3.4tn, or nearly 114% of GDP, the third highest in the eurozone after Greece and Italy.

Administrative Decisions

Lecornu has been one of the president's most loyal supporters, so his decision to change direction on such a divisive reform indicates how eager the head of state is to prevent additional political crisis.

An economics expert, who was jointly awarded the 2025 Nobel economics prize on recently, said earlier that he supported a freeze of the pension reform, because it would still come at a lower price than the political uncertainty that would follow another government collapse.