“The exercise is very difficult, but we have no choice”: senators begin examining the draft Social Security budget with the intention of restoring retirement to 64

Rejected almost unanimously by the deputies, the draft budget for Social Security begins its journey in the Senate this Wednesday with its examination in committee, the opportunity for the upper house to present its orientations, particularly on pensions. The Social Affairs Committee takes up the text from 8:30 a.m. for an essentially symbolic examination at this stage, since the senators will return to the hemicycle of the initial version from November 9. The fate of the Social Security financing bill for 2027 (PLFSS) is still very uncertain: due to lack of a majority, the National Assembly distorted it then unceremoniously rejected it at the end of October, with only one MoDem deputy showing support.

The Senate is therefore summoned to take control from the government copy, without knowing whether the government will ultimately choose to activate article 49. 3 to overcome the obstacle of the National Assembly, or whether it will prefer the unprecedented route of ordinances. Dominated by a solid majority alliance between the right and the centrists, the High Assembly is moving towards adoption of this text marked by significant budgetary efforts.

The government wants to reduce the Social Security deficit to 12.7 billion in 2027, compared to 21.8 billion in 2026. A plan that the senators intend to respect: "Not degrading the balance is a financial and moral obligation", affirms the centrist general rapporteur Olivier Henno (UDI). Reinstatement of pension reform and de-indexation of pensions "The exercise is very difficult, but we have no choice", adds the senator who will lead the debates on this text, anxious not to "postpone payments to future generations" despite a project which, according to him, contains "no structural reform".

Long opposed to the suspension of the pension reform granted last year by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, the senatorial majority will propose its reinstatement, he indicated, hoping to collect around 600 million euros in 2027. Another flagship measure of the government text, the deindexation of part of retirement pensions. According to the government text, only a third of retirees, those who receive 1.

260 euros or less, would benefit from an increase in their pensions, compared to inflation. The Senate could propose in committee to raise this threshold slightly - to 1,400 or 1.

500 euros according to different parliamentary sources - to limit the effects on small retirees. After examining the text at full speed and behind closed doors in the morning, the rapporteurs of the Social Affairs Committee will detail their orientations at 2 p.m. during a press conference. The examination of the Social Security budget is scheduled in the Senate from November 9 to 18, the date of a solemn vote on the entire text.

Machine-translated from French