PARIS (Reuters) -Months-long talks between French trade unions and employers over reforms to the pension system collapsed late on Monday, prompting Prime Minister Francois Bayrou to call a meeting with both sides to find a way out of the deadlock.
Negotiators were unable to reach an accord, seen as “last chance” talks, over discussions to amend an unpopular 2023 overhaul of the pension system that will gradually raise the retirement age to 64 years from 62 years.
Unions wanted an agreement that would allow workers that had physically taxing jobs to retire early, and maternity leave to be better taken into account, while employers were wary of concessions that could weigh on the retirement system’s fragile finances.
Bayrou now faces a possible no-confidence vote from opposition lawmakers.
“We know well that the difficult search for new solutions is a long road and in that long road, the next steps are often the most demanding, but they are also the most important,” Bayrou said in an early-morning speech that lasted less than five minutes.
He said he would meet with the negotiating parties “this morning” without elaborating.
Bayrou, a centrist and long-time debt hawk, has said all options were on the table as long as any modifications ensure a pensions funding gap is plugged by the end of the decade.
He called for the pensions “conclave” earlier this year in a bid to win support from lawmakers from the Socialist party to survive previous no-confidence votes.
Bayrou took over from his predecessor Michel Barnier in December, after lawmakers from the far-right and far-left joined to oust him over budget cuts they said went too far and spurned their priorities.
Barnier’s government lasted just three months.
(Reporting by Makini Brice, Leigh Thomas and Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Rachna Uppal)
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