Pension reform: François Hollande will vote for censure, but will also support progress if Bayrou proposes it

François Hollande, who has returned to the Socialist Party (PS) party, will vote for the motion of censure against the Bayrou government tabled by the Socialist group, to participate in the "warning shot" on pensions, but he is prepared to support measures concerning women or hardship in the future if the executive presents them to Parliament.

"I have a principled position: not to add instability to the immobility. I am therefore opposed to any rush in the electoral calendar," the former President of the Republic initially defended on Saturday in Le Parisien, who was against a new government being censured (he had voted for the censure of Michel Barnier, editor's note).

"But I understand the Socialist group's approach of sending a warning shot to the government, which failed to keep its commitment to submit a text on pensions the day after the conclave. So I will vote for the motion of censure as long as the National Rally does not join it," added the Corrèze MP.

The PS motion of censure

The entire Socialist Party group has tabled a motion of censure, criticising François Bayrou for not having put up for debate in Parliament , following the failure of the "conclave" between unions and employers, a text allowing for debate on the legal retirement age.

This motion should be put to a vote on Tuesday according to several parliamentary sources, but has no chance of receiving the necessary 289 votes , in the absence of the votes of the National Rally which postpones a possible censure to the budget debates in the autumn.

François Bayrou said he was ready to "decide" on behalf of the social partners if they did not reach an agreement by "mid-July," and to put certain measures up for debate even without an overall agreement, for example by including points of consensus in the draft Social Security budget (PLFSS) which will be debated in the fall.

In front of the press, he defended "advances" already made, such as an improvement in the calculation of retirement for women who have had children or a lowering of the retirement age without reduction, to 66 and a half years old compared to 67 years old currently.

"For the future, I will support all measures favourable to women's pensions, for lowering the retirement age without reduction, and above all for the recognition of hardship if the government were to resume them despite the obstruction of the employers," declared François Hollande on Saturday.