UPDATE 1 — French ministries' pension costs drain public service spending, report says

(Adds economist reaction in paragraphs 4-5) Pensions account for 32% of French education ministry spending 30% of interior ministry's budget is spent on pensions PARIS, Oct 13 (Reuters) — Nearly a third of some French ministries' budgets pay for the pensions of retired civil servants, squeezing out spending on other priorities such as education, a government report said, amid protests over underfunded schools. The report, a 250-page annex to the finance bill, is the first to break down retirement costs for each ministry and comes amid growing political attention towards the cost of France's rising pensions bill. It shows that 32% of the education ministry’s budget, or €28.5 billion ($32 billion), ends up with the special pension account that funds state civil servants' pensions. "The Ministry of Finance has just dropped a real bombshell," economist Maxime Sbaihi with think tank Institut Montaigne said on X. "In the midst of a day of protest, France has learnt that a third of the budget allocated to the national education system does not actually go towards education," he added. The share for the interior ministry, which employs national police officers in France, is 30%. Across all