A few days away from creating his own political party, Edouard Philippe spoke personally on the thorny subject of pensions. For the former Prime Minister, this is “the first reform” to be done to reduce France’s debt. The one who initiated this reform during his visit to Matignon, even activating article 49-3, before stopping the machine with the Covid crisis, lamented that France continues to “dance above the volcano that take the drastic – and sometimes bitter – measures that are needed ”.
“At nearly 330 billion (euros), pensions are by far the first budget item – more than a quarter of public spending – and the first source of possible savings,” he said in an interview to the magazine Challenges. Among the levers available, “the only reasonable solution is therefore to extend the working life by pushing back the retirement age to 65, 66 or 67 years”, he believes. “It is not an easy measure to carry, it can be progressive, but those who promise to settle the question of pensions without increasing the length of the working life are lying to the French,” he insists.
Merge the 42 pension plans into one
The former head of government also advances the possibility of not merging the 42 pension plans into one – as initially envisaged by Emmanuel Macron – but of keeping three: “private employees, civil servants and the self-employed”. Among other avenues of savings according to him, the reduction in the number of civil servants in local communities.
The engagement income for young people, promised by Emmanuel Macron, however leaves him dubious. He considers that this device could “discourage entry into the labor market”.
“Ideally people would die at work, right?” “
Asked about France Inter on retirement at 67, the boss of LREM deputies Christophe Castaner felt that such a postponement was not “necessary when we speak (with) the information we have”. But “it is being built and the presidential campaign should allow us to tackle this”, he added, noting that “neighboring countries have done it (…): Germany, Italy”.
The left opposition for its part castigated the words of Edouard Philippe, who according to the first secretary of the PS Olivier Faure “have only one merit, that of clarity: the debt is for retirees; and for all those who cannot find a job after 50 years, it will be unemployment insurance at a discount then poverty while waiting for 67 years ”. “Why stop at 67? 70, 80, 90 years old? Ideally people would die at work, right? Beautiful social project, ”tweeted Ian Brossat, deputy mayor of Paris and campaign manager of the Communist presidential candidate Fabien Roussel.