Unsurprisingly, the senators returned on Tuesday, November 25, to the suspension of the 2023 pension reform. By 190 votes to 108, the members of the upper house of Parliament deleted article 45 bis of the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS) for 2026, which puts on hold the gradual increase in the retirement age and the duration of insurance required for a full-rate pension. “An act of political responsibility»explains the amendment by centrist Union senator Olivier Henno (North) adopted at the Luxembourg Palace.
A position in total contradiction with the vote of the deputies, on November 12, since the elected officials had adopted by 255 votes against 146 the suspension of the pension reform proposed by the government. A measure resulting in setting the legal starting age at 62 years and nine months for generations born in 1964, instead of the 63 years included in the reform. A departure possible three months earlieror even six months earlier for the cohort born between January 1 and March 31, 1965, with a limit also retained at 62 years and nine months, compared to 63 years and three months provided for in the reform.
The National Assembly will have the last word
And the senators did not just return to the suspension of the reform, since they also adopted several amendments reintroducing a pension freeze in 2026. A measure, originally included in the Social Security budget presented to Parliament and deleted in the Hemicycle of the National Assembly. But here again, the senators decided otherwise, by adopting the amendment carried by Olivier Henno, by 198 votes against 120, and the blocking of retirement pensions whose total amount exceeds 1,400 euros gross per month. And this, while every year, pensions are revalued in line with inflation excluding tobacco observed over one year in November. Thus, on January 1, 2026, the increase in prices between the period November 2023-October 2024 and November 2024-October 2025, around 1%, should have been retained.
The opposition is therefore strong between the National Assembly and the Senate. Under these conditions, should retirees fear a freezing of their pension in 2026 and working people an increase in their legal retirement age next year? Part of the answer will be given to them this Wednesday, November 26. A joint joint commission (CMP) composed of seven deputies and seven senators must indeed meet to find a compromise on the Social Security budget – and therefore the measures linked to retirement. An agreement being more than improbable, the parliamentary shuttle should then resume, and the text be back for reading in the National Assembly then in the Senate. And in the end, “the Assembly will have the last word, I hope it will be positive”recalled the Minister of Economy and Finance, Roland Lescure, this Wednesday on France Inter.
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