“Debating the issue of pensions is not just a financial equation. It is an essential part of our social contract. And this contract, too, needs overhauling,” he said.
The PM also insisted that such a suspension must be matched with adequate savings to rein in runaway public spending and bring down a budget deficit projected to hit 5.4 percent of gross domestic product this year.
Lecornu estimated that the freeze would cost French state finances €400 million in 2026. His government earlier Tuesday proposed a budget aimed at getting the deficit below 5 percent of GDP next year, including €31 billion in spending cuts and tax hikes.
The crisis that followed Lecornu’s 14-hour government has fueled concerns that the eurozone’s second-largest economy has become so ungovernable it can no longer pay its bills.
If Lecornu’s second government is taken down in the coming days or weeks, it would be the fourth to collapse in less than a year. That would dramatically raise the prospect of Macron dissolving parliament to break the deadlock.
Two motions of no confidence — one tabled by a group of far-left, Green and left-wing lawmakers, the other by the far right — against the Lecornu government will be put to a vote Thursday.
During a Cabinet meeting Tuesday morning before Lecornu’s policy speech, Macron told ministers that “votes of no confidence are votes to dissolve the National Assembly,” according to government spokesperson Maud Bregeon.
But an adviser to Macron, who was granted anonymity for protocol reasons, had said earlier that a government collapse would not necessarily lead to a new election, which Macron “does not want.” However, the French president has refused to rule out the option.
The adviser also said Macron won’t necessarily speak publicly about the crisis in the coming days. Macron addressed the situation for the first time on Monday, blaming the “disorder” on “political forces that played with the destabilization of Sébastien Lecornu,” who is backed by a fragile coalition of centrists and conservatives.
First Appeared on
Source link
