France's 2027 budget earmarks up to one-third of education spending for civil-service pensions

According to a newly published annex of the 2027 French budget, approximately 32% of the Education nationale's budget will ultimately be used to finance civil-service pensions. The Interior ministry shows a comparable share of about 30%, while the overall average across all ministries stands near 13%. Officials attribute these elevated proportions to a demographic mismatch in the public sector, where the ratio of contributors to retirees falls below one, unlike the private sector's 1.5-to-1 ratio.

The government also notes that the growing share of contract workers, who belong to the general pension scheme, exacerbates the imbalance. To mitigate fiscal pressure, the budget proposes a partial freeze of pension indexation and a reduction in the ceiling for a certain income-tax deduction, aiming to achieve a 5.5 billion-euro saving. The finance bill is set to be debated in the National Assembly.