France: The French People will elect their President on 24 April

France: The French People will elect their President on 24 April – one may expect new labor law related measures.

The French Republic President’s election is due to take place on April 24, 2022. Parliament elections will follow in June unless otherwise decided. Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron the two remaining candidates for the 2nd round propose very divergent social programmes. The outgoing president wants to continue the modernisation of labour law begun with the 2017 reforms; Marine Le Pen defends a principle of “national priority”

In terms of training, Emmanuel Macron proposes to continue his policy and to train, before the end of the decade, 1 million people in the professions of the future (artificial intelligence, energy, ecological transition…) including more than 400,000 IT specialists). For her part, Marine Le Pen advocates an in-depth reform of the school system by favouring the vocational route.

For pensions, Emmanuel Macron defends the gradual increase of the legal retirement age to 65 (instead of 62 at present), contrary to Marine Le Pen who wants to allow people who have contributed 40 years to be able to retire from 60.

Key Action Points for Human Resources and In-house Counsel

Depending on the outcome of the election, combined with the economic situation in light of the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, one may expect new labour law related measures. More to come then!