PENSION REFORM. This Wednesday, October 5, the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt will receive the social partners to present to them “the method and the objectives” of the pension reform.
[Updated October 3, 2022 at 2:55 p.m.] As part of the pension reform project, widely criticized by the opposition, the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt will receive the social partners this Wednesday, October 5, 2022 from 2:30 p.m. for their outline. This is the famous “new consultation cycle” announced by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne last week. “On this occasion, I will present to trade unions and employers’ organizations the timetable, method and objectives of the reform, with a view to a bill being adopted by the end of winter 2023,” he said. he declares. Negotiations will be based on a departure at age 65, as initially desired by the Head of State, on a minimum pension of 1,000 euros and taking into account long careers. As a reminder, the amount of retirement pensions was increased by 4% on September 9 with retroactive effect from July 1, that of complementary Agirc Arrco, will increase by around 5% from November 1.
As a reminder, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron does not rule out dissolving the National Assembly if a motion of censure were to be voted against the government in place. “If all the oppositions coalesced to adopt a motion of censure and bring down the government, it would leave it up to the French and the French would decide and say what new majority they want,” declared the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt, Thursday, September 29 on LCI.
On the sensitive file of the pension reform, already envisaged in 2017 but which could not be completed due to the health crisis, Emmanuel Macron has, it seems, dropped a little ballast, showing himself less firm only initially. While the outgoing president advocates a retirement age of 65, he explained that the project could be reviewed at 64. “As soon as the reform passed during the five-year term, we will shift the legal age by 4 months each year. From 2023, there will be a four-month shift, four months the following year, which means that we will reach around 64 in 2027-2028. And there must be a review clause. he said last April. Or at the end of the quinquennium. Could the reform stop there? Nothing is less sure. Here are the main points of the pension reform envisaged by Emmanuel Macron:
As a reminder, the Head of State has still not given up on the idea of ??passing the pension reform via a bill for the amending financing of Social Security (PLFRSS). So, exit 49-3 and the amendment to the Social Security bill? Nothing is decided yet, but this new possibility acts as an extremely serious third way. De facto, this initiative would postpone the reform to the beginning of 2023, which would allow the Head of State not to appear too hasty and direct.
The initial objective was to create a universal system, by points and by pay-as-you-go, thus eliminating special regimes (SNCF, electricity and gas industries, RATP, etc.). “From 2022, clear decisions will have to be made,” he had already warned in November 2021. In this month of September 2022, exchanges are likely to be extremely tense between the unions and the government, which wishes to act urgently. “All avenues are being studied, including the avenue which would lead us to propose a reform through the Social Security financing bill”, declared government spokesman Olivier Véran after the Council of Ministers of Wednesday, September 14, 2022. The Pensions Orientation Council (COR) promises a pension deficit of between 9 and 11 billion euros for 2027. Enough to push the government to pass even more quickly a reform that promises to be more contested than ever.
As part of this pension reform, on Thursday 15 September, the Pensions Orientation Council issued its annual report. Conclusion: the French pension system should experience a surplus of 3.2 billion euros in 2022 (0.1 point of GDP). A deterioration is however expected, and the regime should be in deficit for several years, before a potential return to balance estimated between 2027 and 2030. Information should not fail to reignite the fuse between government and unions. On the government side, this should be used to justify the desire to raise the legal retirement age, or to play on the contribution period. For his part, the very close to President Macron, François Bayrou believes that “reform is vital, it is a necessity for the country” as he wanted to recall this Sunday, September 18, at the microphone of Sonia Mabrouk in Le Grand Rendez -you.
Tuesday, September 20, the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt, had set the tone. “If there is no support, we have tools in the Constitution,” he said at the microphone of RTL. The discussion with the social partners, the day before (Monday, September 19), had not seemed to ease the tensions. It also failed to move towards a consensus, hence the threats of certain unions such as the CFTC or the CGT to definitively close the discussion if the government were to pass by force on the subject of pension reform. During the debates, the Minister of Labor reaffirmed the government’s desire to implement a pension reform in the summer of 2023, therefore, fairly quickly.
But then, what could the government possibly do? What are the different options available to the executive to get this famous pension reform into the small papers since 2017? In total, three options seemed to hold the rope, before Wednesday, September 28. First, pass the pension reform by amendment within the framework of the social security financing bill (PLFSS). Second option, carry out a great consultation with the unions and the employers, which would necessarily postpone the entry into force of the reform. Third option, the presentation of a specific, separate bill.
In view of the many dissonances, even within the majority, everything suggests that the implementation of the pension reform will last. Which could, on the contrary, push the executive to act in haste by drawing the famous 49-3. Indeed, Emmanuel Macron could choose to pass the pension reform by amendment within the framework of the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS). For the time being, the unions remain quite hostile to the discussion, and especially since this last meeting, which was quite disappointing from their point of view. The government still intends to make the French work longer due to longer life expectancy (64 years or even 65 years), and later entry into the job market. Whether in the camp of the Head of State, within the opposition, or among the social partners, the rag is burning and does not seem ready to go out. The secretary general of the CFDT Laurent Berger speaks of a “brutal measure” in the event of a forced passage of the executive, the impression of being “walked on the face” as he declared on Franceinfo Sunday 18 September 2022.
As announced by Emmanuel Macron, if the pension reform project were to come into force, the legal retirement age would be gradually shifted by four months per year from 2023. De facto, it is the generation of 1961 who would be the first concerned by the device.
On the contrary, a measure should concern all current retirees: the revaluation of the minimum retirement pension to 1,100 euros per month. Please note that the discussions have not yet been concluded, and no date of entry into force of these potential measures has yet been revealed.
It unleashed passions, aroused the anger of the social partners, including the unions initially favorable to the project. Suspended sine die, the pension reform has had many twists and turns. Linternaute.com invites you to review the chronology of this controversial social project in a few key dates:
