Pension reform: the Socialist Party has filed its motion of censure against François Bayrou

It's done. The Socialist Party group in the National Assembly tabled its motion of censure against François Bayrou on Thursday, June 26, accusing the Prime Minister of refusing to table a pension bill that would allow Parliament to "debate everything," including the return to a retirement age of 62.

The motion, signed by the 66 deputies of the group , and which the other groups of the late New Popular Front are expected to vote for, has little chance of being adopted , the National Rally having postponed a possible censure "to the time of the budget" in the autumn.

The president of the Socialist Party group, Boris Vallaud, announced the tabling of this motion on Tuesday, June 24, during Questions to the Government, in response to the Prime Minister's comments.

The official filing comes as Prime Minister François Bayrou announced he would speak at a press conference this Thursday at 5 p.m.

Socialists accuse Prime Minister of treason

The Socialist Party (PS) criticises François Bayrou for not having kept his word on the subject of pensions , believing that he had promised to give "the last word" to Parliament and to allow it to "debate everything, and in particular the age measure, that is to say retirement at 62" , following the "conclave" of social partners set up in February to reflect on the issue again.

It is based on a letter from François Bayrou to Socialist parliamentarians in January 2025, when he was seeking a political agreement to pass the State and Social Security budgets. The Prime Minister called for a discussion between social partners "without totem or taboo, not even the legal age of entitlement."

Last-ditch attempt at reconciliation

However, he set as a condition "a political agreement and (a) maintained overall financial balance" .

In mid-March, during an interview on France Inter and franceinfo, François Bayrou had ruled out the possibility of a return of the legal age to 62 years in view of the demographic and financial equation, seeming to preempt the outcome of the "conclave" discussions.

After the social partners acknowledged the failure of their discussions on Monday, June 23 , the Prime Minister attempted a last-ditch reconciliation. He will hold a press conference at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday at Matignon to "draw conclusions" from his discussions with trade unions and employers' organizations since Monday.