PARIS (Reuters) -Any plans to modify France’s pension reforms – whose unpopularity is one of the reasons behind the country’s political crisis – would be very costly for the economy, said acting French finance minister Roland Lescure on Wednesday.
“Modifying the pension reform will cost hundreds of millions in 2026, and billions in 2027,” Lescure told France Inter radio.
Elisabeth Borne, a former Prime Minister and the country’s current caretaker education minister, told Le Parisien newspaper on Tuesday that she was open to suspending the pension overhaul which she herself steered through Parliament in 2023.
Many on France’s left have called for it to be repealed, though the Socialist Party has suggested they would be open to a suspension.
“We are evaluating various scenarios,” said Lescure, when asked if the French finance ministry was examining any changes to the pension system.
The 2023 pension reform gradually raises the retirement age in France to 64 from 62. The government says it is key to helping cut France’s debts and improve the overall economy, but many trade unions remain opposed to it.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Makini Brice and Elaine Hardcastle)
