The candidates and pensions: retirement age and funded pensions

Pensions will be one of the main issues of the presidential campaign. The French system relies mainly on pay-as-you-go: the contributions of today's workers pay the pensions of today's retirees. Pension spending reached €370 billion in 2023, or 13.1% of GDP, according to the Drees statistics office (LCP).

The 2023 reform raised the legal retirement age from 62 to 64, by one quarter per year of birth, and lengthened the contribution period needed for a full pension. The 2026 social security financing law of 30 December 2025 suspended that rise until 2028 for pensions starting from 1 September 2026. People born in 1964 can therefore retire at 62 years and 9 months with 170 quarters of contributions, instead of 63 years and 171 quarters; the age of 64 will now apply only to people born in 1969 or later (Service-Public.fr). What happens next will be up to the next President and Parliament.

The test asks about these issues under the topic "Pensions". Four statements are in the main test; two more are asked only as tie-breakers, when the result is close. Below are the positions of all eleven candidates, each based on a programme, a statement or a vote. An asterisk (*) marks an estimated position: the candidate has not addressed the question directly, and the position is inferred from what they have said elsewhere. On this topic 7 of the 66 positions are estimated, all of them Raphaël Glucksmann's, Jean-Luc Mélenchon's, Fabien Roussel's or Éric Zemmour's.

The candidates' positions

The two tie-break statements, on abolishing the legal retirement age and moving away from pay-as-you-go, are covered further down.

Back to 62 or lower

"The legal retirement age should go back to 62 or lower." This is one of the most divisive statements in the test: six candidates agree, five disagree, and nine are at one end of the scale or the other. Every position has a source.

• Jean-Luc Mélenchon wants to repeal the reform that set the age at 64, as a "first step towards a return to retirement at 60 with 40 years of contributions, a goal for one term" (October 2026 plan, p. 11).
• Fabien Roussel: the PCF's 2026 policy text backs retirement "from 60 on a full pension" (p. 15); his 2022 programme already said that "a law will restore retirement at 60".
• Marine Tondelier: Les Écologistes' programme would repeal the age of 64 "to return immediately to a minimum age of 62 and aim for retirement at 60" (p. 116).
• Marine Le Pen called in September 2026 for a return to a legal retirement age of 62, or even 60 for people who started work before the age of 20, with 40 to 42 years of contributions depending on the case (LCP).
• Nicolas Dupont-Aignan agrees: as an MP in 2023 he tabled an amendment to keep the age at 62 rather than 64 (amendment no. 17412), and his party's platform rejects any rise in the retirement age.
• Raphaël Glucksmann agrees: Place publique's platform repeals the 2023 reform and then plans a reform under which some could retire at 60 and others would work longer, without setting a single age (p. 43).

The other five strongly disagree. Édouard Philippe wants to raise the age to 65 and David Lisnard calls an age of 65 an "urgent national imperative" (see below). Bruno Retailleau backs a legal age "beyond 64", linked to healthy life expectancy (LCP). Éric Zemmour said in September 2026 he favoured retirement at "64 or even 65", openly disagreeing with Marine Le Pen (BFMTV). Gabriel Attal opposed the suspension of the 2023 reform and wants it to resume its timetable (Medef debate, August 2026).

Up to 65, or no legal age at all

"The legal retirement age should rise to 65." Four candidates agree, seven disagree.

• Édouard Philippe strongly agrees: he proposes gradually raising the retirement age to 65 and the contribution period to 45 years within ten years, with early retirement for health reasons, disability and long careers (priorities, "For a more prosperous France").
• David Lisnard: his programme calls a legal age of 65 an "urgent national imperative", even though his movement said in 2026 that age is not its main answer and that it favours funded pensions (Nouvelle Énergie programme).
• Bruno Retailleau: his October 2026 plan includes a reduced pension for retirement between 63 and 65 (Public Sénat, 12 October 2026).
• Éric Zemmour has spoken of "64 or even 65"; his 2022 programme set the legal age at 64 by 2030.

The other seven disagree, six of them strongly. Gabriel Attal disagrees for a different reason: he does not want to keep pushing back the legal age because he wants to abolish it.

That is the subject of the first tie-break statement: "The legal retirement age should be abolished, so that only the number of years of contributions counts." Gabriel Attal is the only one who strongly agrees: he proposes abolishing the legal age and keeping only the contribution period (RTL, June 2026), to be set by the social partners (franceinfo, September 2026). "You leave very early, you get very little. You leave later, you get more," he summed up on BFMTV (LCP). Raphaël Glucksmann is neutral: his party's platform wants to stop focusing "on the legal age alone", without proposing to abolish it. David Lisnard disagrees, and the other eight strongly disagree: they all keep a reference age, whether 60, 62, 64 or 65.

Funded pensions

"Part of pensions should be funded by invested savings (a funded pillar)." Seven candidates agree, four disagree.

• Gabriel Attal wants a "genuine funded pillar" and to channel part of employee savings into it (Medef debate, August 2026).
• Édouard Philippe wants collective funded pensions for all employees and a retirement savings plan for everyone, topped up with €500 by the state from their first job (priorities, "For a more prosperous France").
• David Lisnard keeps a minimum pay-as-you-go base and moves all other schemes towards funding, up to about 40% of total pensions (Nouvelle Énergie programme).
• Bruno Retailleau brings in a funded element in his 2026 plan (Public Sénat), and his party proposes a retirement savings account for every worker.
• Éric Zemmour believes "the pay-as-you-go system is dead and doomed" and wants to bring in funding gradually, a transition that will take "a very long time" (BFMTV).
• Marine Le Pen announced a "funded pillar" in October 2026, without yet presenting her reform (Public Sénat, 6 October 2026).
• Nicolas Dupont-Aignan proposes paying €10,000 into a sovereign fund for every newborn, to guarantee a minimum funded pension at 60 on top of pay-as-you-go (back-to-school speech, September 2026).

Among those against, Marine Tondelier is the only one with a documented position: Les Écologistes' programme aims to "reject any move towards funded pensions" (p. 117). Raphaël Glucksmann's, Jean-Luc Mélenchon's and Fabien Roussel's positions are estimated: their programmes fund pensions through pay-as-you-go and higher contributions, with no mention of funding.

The second tie-break statement goes further: "France should gradually move away from its pay-as-you-go pension system to a funded one." Here the seven candidates who favour some funding part ways. Only Éric Zemmour strongly agrees, and David Lisnard agrees. The others disagree: Gabriel Attal, Marine Le Pen and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan want funding as a complement to pay-as-you-go, not a replacement; Édouard Philippe says his reform "will preserve our system" (edouardphilippe.fr, 29 September 2026); Bruno Retailleau's party proposes a savings tier that complements pay-as-you-go "without replacing it" (booklet "Produire plus", p. 36). Raphaël Glucksmann (his party's platform calls pay-as-you-go a "national treasure") and Marine Tondelier are also against; Jean-Luc Mélenchon's and Fabien Roussel's positions are estimated.

Indexing pensions

"All pensions should rise at least in line with inflation." Basic pensions are in principle uprated each year in line with inflation, but a freeze or a smaller rise is regularly proposed to cut the deficit. Five candidates agree, four disagree and two are neutral.

• Jean-Luc Mélenchon plans to index "all pensions, family allowances and housing benefits" to inflation and rejects de-indexation (October 2026 plan, p. 8).
• Nicolas Dupont-Aignan backs keeping indexation, and his party's platform proposes "indexing pensions at least to inflation" (back-to-school speech, September 2026).
• Marine Le Pen: her 2022 programme planned to re-index pensions to inflation and the RN group's 2025 counter-budget repeats this (p. 7); her October 2026 plan does, however, include pension savings she has not yet detailed.
• Fabien Roussel: in October 2026 his party proposed to "raise wages, pensions and minimum benefits" (pcf.fr).
• Raphaël Glucksmann's position (agree) is estimated: his party's platform wants to "guarantee decent pensions", without mentioning indexation.

Against, Gabriel Attal proposes a "blank year" from the 2028 budget that would temporarily freeze social benefits, while protecting small pensions (Le Parisien, July 2026). David Lisnard proposes de-indexing pensions above €2,000 a month (Nouvelle Énergie). Édouard Philippe rules out a "general cut in pensions" but warns that retirees will have to "contribute more" (Adidas Arena speech, July 2026). Marine Tondelier is also against, for a different reason: Les Écologistes' programme would index pensions "in a fair and differentiated way" and "under-index the highest pensions" (p. 67). Bruno Retailleau is neutral: in 2025 he called the pension freeze planned by the Bayrou government a "double penalty", but his 2026 plan does not promise indexation (republicains.fr). Éric Zemmour's neutral position is estimated.

Who is close to whom on pensions

To compare the candidates pair by pair, we added up the gaps between their positions on the four statements of the main test (our calculation). Zero would mean identical positions throughout; the maximum is 16. Estimated positions count the same as the others.

On pensions, Marine Le Pen is closer to Fabien Roussel (2) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon (3) than to Éric Zemmour (9): she shares their rejection of the 2023 reform, but not their opposition, which is estimated, to funded pensions. Bruno Retailleau and Éric Zemmour take exactly the same positions on all four statements (Éric Zemmour's position on indexation is estimated). The furthest apart are Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Édouard Philippe: at least three points apart on each of the four. Raphaël Glucksmann and Fabien Roussel differ by just one point, but three of their positions are estimated, so that result should be read with caution.

The four statements on the topic count towards the economic axis of the political compass. On pensions alone, Marine Le Pen (−50) and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (−50) are on the same side as Raphaël Glucksmann (−62.5), although their overall economic position is close to the centre (−20.0 and −16.7). Édouard Philippe (+87.5) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon (−87.5) are at the two ends (our calculation, applying the compass formula to the four statements).

Read more

• All the statements on the topic, with sources: "Pensions".
• The candidates' positions on every statement in the test: candidate comparison.
• Who the candidates are: "The 2027 French presidential candidates explained".
• Compare two candidates, for example Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour or Édouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal.
• Candidate pages: Gabriel Attal, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, Raphaël Glucksmann, Marine Le Pen, David Lisnard, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Édouard Philippe, Bruno Retailleau, Fabien Roussel, Marine Tondelier, Éric Zemmour.
• Find out which candidate is closest to your views on every topic: take the test.