If the Covid-19 epidemic has not plunged the accounts of the pension system, the situation remains bad in the opinion of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron.

Could the controversial reform be revived?

At the highest level of the State, several questions arise: what will be the content of the reform and when should it be done? 

The coronavirus has not plunged the accounts of the pension system: here are the conclusions of the report of the Pension Orientation Council, officially presented Thursday afternoon.

The deficit still amounts to 13 billion euros in 2020 and 10 billion in 2021. Figures that come as the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, seeks to relaunch his pension reform, very controversial.

As the presidential election approaches, several points remain to be clarified and the subject may weigh heavily in the campaign.

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Will Emmanuel Macron be one of the only Presidents of the Republic for 40 years not to have reformed pensions?

This is an argument that the right is preparing behind the scenes, on the theme of the "reforming President" ultimately unable to reform.

On the side of the Elysee, we do not intend to drop this file.

This week, Emmanuel Macron reacted to the figures of the Retirement Guidance Council with this sentence: "It's less worse than expected, but it's still very bad". 

The abandonment of the reform does not seem envisaged, but the question of the moment arises.

"The question is not 'if', but 'when'," said a minister. 

What reform and when?

Two questions are being studied at the top of the State.

What is the reform to do?

Bercy pushes for a parametric reform but the idea which makes jazz within Macronie… "If it is just to push back the age of departure without making the universal system by points, I prefer that nothing is done", says a deputy. 

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The other question is that of timing: reforming pensions at the risk of putting people in the streets, less than a year before the Presidential election, it is politically a dangerous bet.

A minister decides: "It is up to the President to see if it is good for his re-election".