France | Government to raise retirement age to 64

(Paris) The government is preparing to unveil on Tuesday its explosive pension reform against which the unions are already planning to demonstrate, ulcerated by the probable postponement of the retirement age to 64 and despite accompanying measures on employment seniors or hardship.


“If Emmanuel Macron wants to make her his mother of reforms […] for us it will be the mother of battles, ”warns the boss of FO Frédéric Souillot, opposed to this reform like all the trade unions and the oppositions, apart from the more conciliatory right.

During a press conference, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne could, according to several of her interlocutors, propose a postponement of the legal age of departure to 64 years, instead of 62 currently, after having considered 65 years.

This postponement would be associated with an acceleration of the extension of the contribution period, which would increase to 43 years before the 2035 horizon set by the Touraine reform.

The head of state saw Elisabeth Borne on Friday “to make his final decisions”, according to the president’s entourage.

Without confirming the 64 years, it was stressed from the same source on Sunday that “it would be in accordance with the campaign commitments made by the president the day after the first round”, and “aligned with the consultations which have taken place in recent months”.

The government would also be ready to raise, during the parliamentary debate, the minimum monthly pension to 1,200 euros (1,718 Canadian dollars) for all retirees and not only for new entrants.

On the employment of seniors, an index would be put in place, with the obligation to negotiate an agreement in the event of a lack of communication on this index.

On the arduousness, the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt claims to have “responded” to the reformist unions, evoking “reinforced medical monitoring” for “ergonomic risks”.

Aurore Bergé, president of the Renaissance Macronist deputies, also calls in The Parisian taking into account “learning terms” between the ages of 16 and 18 for “early departure”.

“Unpopular”

The stumbling block remains the age measurement. More than two-thirds of French people (68%) are against the postponement to 64, according to an Ifop-Fiducial poll.

” There will be no deal with the CFDT” in the event of a postponement of the legal age and “we will do everything to make the government back down”, warns its leader Laurent Berger.

The government remains determined. “It is not because a reform is unpopular that it should not be done”, assures its spokesperson Olivier Véran.

He acknowledges disagreements over “solutions.” The CFDT has proposals to raise the employment rate for seniors in order to fill the gap. All the unions defend an increase in employer contributions, a track also mentioned by the High Commissioner for Planning François Bayrou, but dismissed by the executive.

The former Minister of Labor (2017-2020) Muriel Pénicaud warns that the employment of seniors, particularly low in France, is “the first subject that must be dealt with”, otherwise “it is the same people who work late who will work later, and the others who will switch to unemployment or RSA”.

“union front”

Failing to convince the unions, the government hopes to rally the elected representatives of the group Les Républicains (LR), divided on this reform, however close to what the Senate votes each year, with a majority on the right.

LR boss Éric Ciotti says he is ready, in the Sunday newspaperto “vote a fair reform” and spread over time, with a retirement age raised to 64 years in 2032 and a minimum of 1200 euros including for current retirees.

The Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, hailed the “responsibility” of the Republicans, assuring that the government is “open to compromise”.

An LR vote could avoid the use of 49.3 to have the reform adopted, which should go through an amending Social Security financing bill.

The text will be examined by the Council of Ministers on January 23 but the unions, which meet on Tuesday evening, plan to mobilize before, while on the left the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (NUPES) is holding a meeting on January 10 and 17 and that La France insoumise (LFI) manifests on the 21st.

The bill must pass in committee at the National Assembly from January 30, and in the hemicycle on February 6.

The boss of the CGT Philippe Martinez is ironic about the “feat” of the executive which brings the unions together in action for the first time in twelve years.

“The trade union and political front will be totally united in this battle,” LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard promised on BFMTV. And Marine Tondelier, number one in Europe Ecology Les Verts (EELV), to launch: “Our sneakers are ready”.


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