Macron "open" to a postponement of the retirement age to 64 in the event of an extension of the contribution period

"If some (social partners, editor's note) are ready to commit and say: we don't want to go until 65, but in return, if you make this gesture, we are ready to work a little more quarters - because there are other ways of doing it, it's not just the legal age, it's working a little more quarters -, I'm open," said the head of the State on France 2.

Resuming his campaign promise, Mr. Macron claimed to have received "the mandate from our compatriots" to "shift the legal age of departure by 4 months a year", now set at 62 and which would be raised "from summer 2023" to reach 65 years "by 2031".

A consultation on the pension reform was however opened by the government at the beginning of October with the unions and the employers, and must "finish by the end of the year", he recalled.

"There is a consultation, but not to do nothing, so if in addition to the 64 years we lengthen the terms, I am completely open but everyone must also commit", he said. He insists.

Currently it is necessary to have contributed 168 quarters, or 42 years, to receive a full pension (without discount), this duration having to gradually increase to 43 years by 2035.

"The whole thing is that our model is back on its feet, if I may say so, and that we, active people, are financing the retirement of our retirees well," added Mr. Macron.