Barely qualified for the second round of the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron is on the verge of revoking his pension reform project. “The 65 years are not a dogma” he thus declared during a trip to Pas-de-Calais. And to confirm on BFM TV that he was thinking of “to move” the starting age at 64, “if there is too much tension“.
Referendum:
While facing Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election, for the second time, the outgoing president also said he could call for a referendum, a method advocated by his competitor. Indeed, Brigitte Macron’s husband explained that he wanted a “new method” of consultation. And to admit that “clarifications are needed” on this reform and that he was ready to discuss the “rhythm and boundsof his project.
Work longer:
“I want social progress for our country (…) So the only way to do it is to work more“explained Emmanuel Macron, in “The 4 truths” on France 2this Wednesday, April 13, 2022. If he has “heard the anguish of people”, Emmanuel Macron is not backing down, but is proposing to apply his reform gradually. Thus, he explains: “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 years old in 2027-2028”.
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A major crisis:
What to avoid the major crisis that shook the country between December 2019 and February 2020. Even before being drafted, the pension reform project with which he had campaigned in 2017 before thus stalled.
The great disruptive Covid 19:
At the beginning of 2020, there was talk of grouping special diets into a “national universal pension fund” with a “pivotal age” below which a retiree would have a lower pension. The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the government’s agenda on this topic. Indeed, as Emmanuel Macron explained during a speech on November 9, 2021:
“This reform [des retraites] is essential. If there hadn’t been the epidemic at the start of 2020, it would have come to an end, that’s obvious (…) But I don’t think we should do the same reform as envisaged“.
FA