Macron says French pension changes will not go ahead as planned

President rules out overhaul amid Covid crisis and again refuses to say if he will stand for re-election

Emmanuel Macron has said his controversial pension changes, the biggest single revamp of the French system since 1945, will not go ahead as planned as he again refused to say whether he would run for another five-year presidential term.

I do not think the reform as it was originally envisaged can go ahead as such" in the wake of the Covid crisis, the French president told reporters following him on a nationwide tour on Thursday in the run-up to regional elections this month.