PENSION REFORM 2022. Dissonances continue between the government and the social partners. So, three main options are available to the executive to pass this pension reform. We will explain everything to you.
[Updated September 21, 2022 at 09:15] “If there is no support, we have tools in the Constitution”. These are the words of the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt, Tuesday September 20 at the microphone of RTL. The discussion with the social partners, the day before (Monday September 19), did not seem to reduce 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. Prime Minister Elisabeth receives this Thursday, September 21, and tomorrow, Friday, September 22, the presidents of the parliamentary groups. The subject should be brought up.
But then, what could the government do? What are the different options available to the executive to pass this famous pension reform in the small papers since 2017? In total, three options seem to hold the rope. 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. This Thursday, September 22, the Pension Monitoring Committee (CSR) must deliver its opinion to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on the state of the French pension system. Will this return impact current discussions? Answer in a few days.
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, meanwhile, still intends to make the French work longer because of longer life expectancy (64 years or even 65 years), and later entry into the labor 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.
On the sensitive file of 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 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.
The exit from special schemes and the raising of the retirement age was one of Emmanuel Macron’s flagship projects in 2017, it will not come into force in 2022. However, this pension reform remains a fundamental issue of this campaign, whatever the political side. As a reminder, the Government had decided to activate Article 49.3 of the Constitution to pass without a vote the famous pension reform in the National Assembly on February 29, 2020. A maneuver widely decried at the time, deemed as a “denial of democracy” by La France Insoumise. The pension reform itself was also subject to strong criticism, even today.
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 taken,” 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 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.
After the consultation of Monday, September 19 between the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt, the unions and the employers, the unions keep a bitter taste of the discussions started, believing that the meeting was not that useful. On the trade union side, it is estimated that the government insists on the announced deficits of the pension system to push through the pension reform as quickly as possible, and to legitimize it, give it weight. “There is no fire in the pension system, so let’s not set fire to the country on this issue” declared Yann Ricordeau of the CFDT. In this sense, the CFDT has declared that it does not want to participate in any meeting with the executive before September 26, the date on which the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS) will be presented to the Council of Ministers. CFTC and CGT could also find themselves up against the government, by completely closing the discussion in the coming weeks.
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:
