The Prime Minister of France, François Bayrou, made his debut this Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. in the French Parliament with his general policy speech. The new head of the Government had to deploy his program, vision and red lines that would allow him to face a situation of blockade that already cost his predecessor, Michel Barnier, his position after just three months of taking office. Beyond vague announcements, reflections on international politics and the enormous concern about public debt, Bayrou responded to the expectations generated around the possible cancellation of the pension law. The current rule, the result of the controversial reform promoted by President Emmanuel Macron in 2023, will be reviewed to seek a “fairer system.”
Bayrou faces the same difficulties as his predecessor. In fact, he joked as soon as he began the survey that estimates that 44% of French people do not trust that he can reach the end of the year. Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Insoumise (LFI) has already announced that it will present a motion of censure after the speech to be voted on Thursday; and the budget must again be submitted to Parliament for approval. The advantage that Bayrou has, however, is that the left is no longer a solid bloc united under the acronym of the New Popular Front (NFP). The centrist prime minister could achieve the support or abstention of the Socialist Party – the environmentalists have already announced that they will vote on the motion of censure – in exchange for some concessions. The first, the review of the pension law approved in 2023. Something like this was announced this Tuesday after 26 tedious minutes talking about international politics and European challenges, powers reserved for the President of the Republic.
The pension system, he began, is vital for France. Also its acceptance by all parties, which are currently at opposite ends of the spectrum in their positions on the type of necessary reform. “I see considerable progress. Nobody denies that there is a financing problem. But, in addition, you can obtain a fairer system,” he noted. “Therefore, I choose to return to this issue, together with social representatives, for a short period and under transparent conditions. “According to an unprecedented and somewhat radical method,” he explained amidst the cries of the left, who trusted in a cancellation or suspension of the current system. “The approach will be based on a diagnosis and indisputable figures. I will request a quick mission to the Court of Auditors, which will last a few weeks. And I will communicate this result to all French people.”
Bayrou asked that a reflection be addressed “without any totem or taboo, not even the retirement age, as long as it responds to the established requirement.” “We cannot degrade the financial balance that we are seeking and on which almost everyone agrees. It would be an unforgivable offense against our country. Several of the social agents have indicated that they have identified proposals to make the reform more socially fair and, at the same time, balanced. They all deserve to be explored. And all questions must be able to be raised,” he added.
The idea is to create a permanent delegation that seats political and union actors at the same table for three months. The debate will take place on the diagnosis of the Court of Auditors. “If during this conclave this delegation finds a balanced and fairer agreement, we will adopt it. But if the partners cannot agree, it will be the current reform that will continue to be applied,” said the prime minister. In reality, it is a hidden suspension, because the increase in the retirement age proposed by the previous reform does not come into force until 2026. So Bayrou, without straining too much the seams of the parliamentary balance, has given the Socialist Party the that he asked not to vote on a motion of censure. A way, in short, to save time.
Proposals for the right
The news does not please the right and Bayrou knew it. So the prime minister had to come up with other proposals to satisfy that bench, especially the seats where the extreme right sits. The first approach came through the announcement of a review of the electoral system, one of the battles he shares with Le Pen. “Pluralism also means that each person finds a place within the national representation, in proportion to the votes they have received. It is the only rule that allows everyone to be authentically themselves, without being trapped in insincere alliances,” said Bayrou, a long-time defender of the proportional voting system. “I propose that we advance in the reform of the legislative electoral system. Each one will then be able to express their position. A decision must be made on this principle and its modalities discussed.”
But there was more. Immigration, a battlehorse of the right, will continue to be one of the pillars of his mandate. “Given that things must be told as they are, we must address the fears raised by immigration. Social media fuels this fear every day,” Bayrou admitted. “I am deeply convinced that immigration is a question of proportion. The arrival of a foreign family to a village in the Pyrenees or the Cévennes is an act of generosity that unfolds: children celebrated and welcomed at school, parents who receive all the signs of mutual support. But if 30 families arrive, the town feels threatened. The desire, after all legitimate, to feel at home, is affected. All this is, humbly, human. And a matter of common sense, which I claim.”
Bayrou continued with his ideological and political balances. Perhaps because of the protests that are coming in the countryside and in some industrial sectors, he even had a memory for the yellow vests. “I address them today. Let them not think that we have forgotten them. His rejection of this division of the country—between those who matter and those who don’t matter; those who appear on television and those who watch it; those of the central districts of Paris and the others—let them know that we make this the heart of our policy,” he launched while announcing that he will resume his “complaints notebook.”
