On paper, the proposal looks simple, but the conditions for its implementation are the subject of intense debate. A few minutes after the initial estimates of the outcome of the legislative elections were released, leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon forcefully reaffirmed on Sunday, July 7, that the statutory retirement age, which was introduced in 2023, will be abolished by decree "as early as this summer" if the left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) alliance governs the country. However, the statement by the leader of the radical-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party is open to scrutiny, with many experts believing that a law is needed to abolish the provision which is as emblematic as it is unpopular.
This is one of the actes de rupture ("acts of separation") that the NFP pledges to carry out in the "first fortnight" to "respond to the social emergency" if it takes power. It wants to cancel the "implementation decrees of Emmanuel Macron's reform" which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64. The left-wing parties' program focuses on Article 10 of the April 14, 2023 law, which made significant changes to France's system. It's worth noting that the article in question also includes a provision for extending the length of employment time required to obtain a full-rate pension for certain generations. Strangely, the NFP has not said whether it also intends to put an end to this provision which could mean additional efforts for the age groups concerned.
Some of the key figures behind the 2023 reform, who preferred to remain anonymous, claim that the decision to revoke this part of the law through a decree would be illegal. Their argument is based on the idea that since the legal retirement age is established by law, changing it requires a legislative process rather than a regulatory one like a decree. Michel Borgetto, a professor emeritus at the University of Paris-II Panthéon-Assas, shared this view, stating that, "A decree cannot go back on the provision of the law gradually raising the legal retirement age to 64, as such a modification or repeal can only come from the law."
Legal avenues
However, other experts have a different view. Laure Camaji, a lecturer in labor law at Lyon-II University, argued that "a decree can immediately freeze the increase in the retirement age." Emilien Quinart, a lecturer in public law at the University of Paris-I Panthéon-Sorbonne, went even further, observing that from 1985 to 2010, the retirement age appeared in the regulatory part of the Social Security Code, before being inserted in the legislative component following a reform enacted under former conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy.
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