PARIS — France’s far-right National Rally (RN) will present its pension plans next Tuesday as it seeks to convince increasingly nervous investors that its programme will be affordable if, as opinion polls suggest, it takes power in five months’ time.
Marine Le Pen’s party is seeking to uphold its promise of allowing workers who started young to retire at 60 while limiting the costs of unwinding President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension overhaul.
Pensions are among France’s most politically explosive issues, and investors are watching closely for a commitment to raise the retirement age as a sign of fiscal discipline at a time of strained public finances and bond market jitters.
Le Pen said last month she would secure €140 billion ($155 billion) in budget savings by the end of the next presidential term in 2032, but has struggled to convince economists and investors that such cuts are achievable.
She has said her pension reforms would save €15 billion to €20 billion a year once fully implemented, a target that could prove difficult if she sticks to longstanding promises to let workers who started particularly young retire at 60.
Le Pen, tipped to win the presidential election in the spring, has also pledged to repeal Macron’s 2023 reform, which would gradually raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. The overhaul triggered months of protests and left many voters hostile to the plan, which the government suspended last year as part of a deal with Socialists to secure parliamentary backing for its budget.
“None of the pension reforms implemented over the last 15 or 20 years have managed to fix the system. So what we want to do is to fix the system,” RN party president Jordan Bardella said this week.
Pensions are France’s single biggest public expense, set to reach €436 billion next year, or 14 per cent of economic output. Politicians have long been reluctant to pass measures that would hurt pensioners’ purchasing power, while older voters are a key support base for the RN.
Recent comments from RN officials indicate that the party is increasingly inclined to make the number of years worked the key factor for pension eligibility rather than focusing on a single retirement age.
While party officials continue to promise retirement between 60 and 62, they have also said workers would need between 40 and 42 years of contributions for a full state pension, meaning many people who enter the workforce after higher education would still need to work into their mid-60s.
RN budget spokesman Jean-Philippe Tanguy said last month that people would still be able to retire at 62, but would face reduced pension benefits if they had not completed the required contribution period.
That approach would allow the RN to retain a flagship electoral pledge while reducing the cost of reversing Macron’s reform, which France’s independent public audit office has said could cost €10 billion annually.
Bardella said the RN would tighten rules governing contribution periods that count towards pension entitlements and create financial incentives for employers to retain older workers who want to stay in employment.
The RN would also allow workers to divert part of their contributions to a sovereign wealth-style investment fund. France’s pension system is currently financed largely on a pay-as-you-go basis, with workers’ contributions funding current retirees, while private retirement savings remain voluntary.