Paris (France) (AFP) – The government wants to “virtually halve” the Social Security deficit and reduce it to “12 or 13 billion” in 2027, against “22 billion in 2026”, declared Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou on Wednesday in an interview with Challenges.
Published on: 09/30/2026 - 1:04 p.m.
The executive wants in particular to save 5.5 billion euros by slowing down the "mechanical progression" of retirement spending, including 4.1 billion via de-indexing or under-indexing of pensions above 1,260 euros, he said - without giving details on the rates envisaged -, on the eve of the presentation of the State and Social Security budgets to the Council of Ministers.
The law normally provides that basic pensions are revalued each year following the level of inflation of the previous year.
“Without specific measures, the cost of pensions would increase by around 13 billion euros next year. Half of this increase is due to demographics” and “the other half comes from the total indexation of pensions,” explained Mr. Farandou.
“At this stage, the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS) provides for a total revaluation” for pensions less than or equal to “85% of the minimum wage, or 1,260 euros,” he said.
"Beyond this threshold, the government's desire is to make 4.1 billion savings", but the copy "will be debated and will evolve", he assured. “The parliamentarians will discuss in particular the level of increase” retained, indicated the minister.
In the future, to replace automatic indexation, "we could even imagine a switch to a system of annual negotiation with the social partners, as is done for salaries", he said.
The rest of the planned savings on pensions would be achieved via "a reduction in the ceiling of the 10% reduction on income tax" from which retirees benefit, "which would go from 4,439 to 3,000 euros", specified Mr. Farandou.
"This measure, the thresholds of which are to be discussed, appears in the finance bill and would save 1.4 billion. But here again, I am open to debate. Parliamentary discussions will shape the right balance between the two measures or propose others" to achieve the set savings objective, he added.
In a more prospective vision, Mr. Farandou took up a proposal put forward by the Labor Employment Pensions conference (not approved by all the participants) to define in a future pension reform an "age of balance", around which the discount and premium would be structured.
“The French would be strongly encouraged to retire at this age so as not to suffer significant reductions in their pension, the level of which remains to be defined. And those who chose to work beyond that would benefit from a premium, in the same proportions,” detailed Mr. Farandou.
"According to the experts' first calculations", this equilibrium age "should be at least 65 years old. This is the age which would make it possible to financially balance our retirement system, provided that we decide to do so quickly. But, over the next twenty years, it will surely have to be shifted further to take into account the increase in life expectancy", he underlined.
The legal age would remain and "would be around 63 years as today. But, barring special measures, it would be accompanied by a reduction in the pension", added Mr. Farandou.
© 2026 AFP
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