Impossible to avoid reducing public spending on pensions in France

Public spending on pensions is 4 percentage points of GDP higher in France than in other OECD and euro-zone countries. However, the situation after the COVID crisis will be as follows in France: Increased need for public spending in many areas: energy transition, reshoring, research, healthcare, education, fight against poverty, etc.; Impossibility of significantly increasing the tax burden, given its level and France's competitiveness problems; the few possible tax increases (global taxation of multinationals, increased taxation of capital gains) would provide small additional tax revenues; The prospect of an end to purchases of government bonds by the ECB, and therefore the risk of greater difficulty in financing fiscal deficits. If France does not reduce public spending on pensions, it is likely that it will be impossible to increase other public spending where necessary.