"Last month France approved use of the vaccine for under-65s only, citing lack of data for older people."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56242617

But if you read more carefully what they specifically said was:

> Everything points to thinking it is quasi-ineffective on people older than 65, some say those 60 years or older.

So they said there was data that said it was ineffective, not that there wasn't enough data.

Apparently Macron said that, though I can find very little beyond that one quote. I doubt that's what the vaccination boards (whatever their equivalent of the EMA is) in France said when they recommended limiting vaccination to under <threshold age>, but I haven't really looked it up. The German Stiko was quite clear on it, anyway.

Edit to add: ... and while Stiko, ie. the vaccination board, was quite clear on it, I'm sure there were like two dozen high ranking politicians in Germany in January who either didn't read or were unable to understand the Stiko recommendation and claimed that AZ is known to be ineffective. Most politicians aren't trained scientists, and unfortunately it shows.