By Necva Tastan Sevinc
ISTANBUL (AA) - French lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved suspending the country’s contested pension reform, though questions remain over how the measure will be financed.
Members of the National Assembly adopted the suspension on Friday evening, included in Article 45 of the 2026 Social Security Financing Bill, by 162 votes to 75, with 237 deputies casting ballots out of 283 eligible.
The vote was brought forward after the minister in charge of relations with parliament requested that the measure be examined as a priority when the evening session opened, the French news broadcaster BFM TV reported.
The National Assembly had already backed the suspension in a first reading, but the Senate later rejected it.
As lawmakers were examining the upper chamber’s version of the bill, the government and several political groups, including the Republicans, Socialists, National Rally and Liot, reintroduced the measure through amendments.
The core issue now facing the government is how to fund the temporary halt to the 2023 “Borne reform,” which freezes the legal retirement age at 62 years and 9 months and maintains the requirement of 170 quarters for a full pension until Jan. 1, 2028.
When Paris first proposed suspending the reform, it estimated the cost at €100 million ($116.5 million) in 2026 and €1.4 billion in 2027, to be partly offset by an additional €100 million surtax on supplementary health insurance, added to an existing €1 billion levy.
The plan also included freezing pension payments.
But deputies removed both the €100 million surcharge and the pension freeze during the first reading, arguing that households and mutual insurance holders should not bear the cost.
Instead, MPs introduced a 1.4-point increase in the CSG (General Social Contribution) on capital income, expected to generate €2.8 billion, which they said would more than cover the cost of the pause.
The Senate later reversed those changes, reinstating the €1 billion surcharge on health insurers while removing Article 45 altogether to maintain the reform’s implementation.
During Thursday’s second reading, MPs agreed to restore the €1 billion exceptional surcharge on health insurers, but without earmarking the €100 million needed to fund the suspension in 2026.
They also backed a revised government amendment reducing the planned CSG increase to secure €1.5 billion, instead of the initial €2.8 billion, after concerns that the middle class would be affected. However, the new revenue will go to the long-term care branch of Social Security, not to pensions.