Pending the decision of the Constitutional Council on pensions, the executive wonders about the reasons for this crisis. Among these reasons: the COR is singled out.
The 345 pages of the 9e report of the Pensions Orientation Council, published in mid-September, were supposed to set the scene. The COR, an independent body although attached to Matignon, is made up of administrations, parliamentarians and social partners. His methods, a posteriori, are contested. At the top of the state, we regret that this report did not allow as many people as possible to agree on a simple observation: was a pension reform necessary or not?
The Pensions Orientation Council has proposed several scenarios but in private, the Prime Minister deplores this operation and these different hypotheses. “Everyone gets the scenario they want, it confused the tracks”regrets Elisabeth Borne.
The various hypotheses of the COR have “blurred the tracks” according to Matignon
The executive considers that some of these assumptions were unrealistic and that they biased the debate. But when you dig deeper, you realize that the problem is not so much the report itself as the COR president’s public outings. On January 19, Pierre-Louis Bras spoke to the Assembly’s Finance Committee. He had indicated that pension expenditure “don’t slip” and “over the long term, they decrease in three out of four hypotheses”. A simple sentence in the middle of 30 minutes of exchanges, which had ignited social networks. The opposition saw this as confirmation that this reform was useless. The government has repeated in vain that it was only talking about expenditures, not revenues. The battle of opinion was lost.
Three months later, Macronie is not taking off. “Drifting is not an economic concept”annoys Renaissance MP Marc Ferracci, himself a member of the COR.
Towards a reform of the COR?
At Matignon too, the gaze is severe. It is judged that the COR is no longer the place where we can agree on a diagnosis. The Prime Minister seems to be considering a formula where the social partners would be responsible, as for supplementary pensions. Ultimately, a refoundation of this Orientation Council cannot therefore be ruled out. “It must be done cold”still tempers a macronist.
But the executive’s charge against the COR still looks like a diversion. At no time has the majority been able to convince that this reform was necessary. “We should have started by explaining the imperfections of the current system”enrages a deputy. “If it didn’t work, it’s our fault”recognizes an adviser to Bercy.