"Concessions, particularly on pensions": Olivier Faure reveals the "form of deal" of non-censorship with the government of François Bayrou

The agreement was nothing short of a secret, but had never been formally explained by either party. This has now been confirmed. This Sunday, May 4, the First Secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, acknowledged on BFMTV a "form of deal with the government" of François Bayrou aimed at avoiding censorship.

As a reminder, it was the far right and the New Popular Front who led to the fall of Michel Barnier's government in December after the failure of a political agreement on the 2025 budget, by voting in full support of a motion of censure.

After just a few days, Emmanuel Macron appointed François Bayrou, a member of the Modem party, as his new Prime Minister, hoping he would be able to expand the government's political base to include the Socialist Party. Ultimately, in the absence of an agreement to form a government, this "deal" turned into a no-confidence agreement, guaranteeing greater stability to the team that had been in place for more than four months.

"I remind you that we censored Michel Barnier, and then agreed, in a form of deal with the government, to negotiate with him because we wanted there to be a budget for France - in exchange for concessions," Olivier Faure revealed publicly this Sunday.

He mentioned "concessions, particularly on pensions, on education and on a certain number of issues, which made it possible to avoid the worst," adding: "It was not a panacea."

The Socialists had indeed highlighted a number of red lines, notably the elimination of 4,000 posts in National Education planned in Michel Barnier's budget.

One of the other commitments at the heart of the agreement between the Socialist Party and the Macronist camp: reopening the inflammatory issue of pension reform. The party with the rose initially wanted to suspend Elisabeth Borne's reform while it was revised, but was only able to obtain what François Bayrou called a "conclave" on pensions, passing the buck to the social partners. The suspension, presented as an essential condition by the Socialist Party , was ultimately backed down.

However, Olivier Faure notes that the initial promise no longer appears to be being kept. The Prime Minister, for example, undermined the ongoing negotiations of this "conclave," by assuring that a return to a retirement age of 62 was completely out of the question. Asked about a possible return to this symbolic threshold on France Inter on March 16, François Bayrou gave a simple: "no."

"That's not possible," Olivier Faure lamented this Sunday, believing that this retirement age parameter is still the subject of negotiations.

"If the government doesn't want to hear what the unions have to say, what the French people have already told them in the streets and in the vote, then if they don't hear it, we will call them to account. Censorship will be on the table," he declared.

Olivier Faure also insists on another "written" commitment from the head of government. He assures that the non-censorship agreement stipulates that Parliament must be "the final decision-maker on the pension issue," while the repeal of Élisabeth Borne's reform is the subject of consensus across the opposition.