The plans of French President Emmanuel Macron for the pension reform are not yet known in detail, but there were strikes last week. The French trade union CGT called for a “general mobilization” across France, and those who asked around heard concerns not only about purchasing power and inflation, but also about the planned increase in the retirement age – the core of Macron’s controversial reform . One of the strikers, a 49-year-old employee of the Paris public transport company, summed up his criticism as follows: “Retirement is like the horizon, when you think you’re approaching it, it recedes.”
So far, Macron and his Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne have plans to gradually raise the retirement age over the coming years, from 62 today to 65 in 2031.
The comparison with the horizon fits not only with the planned increase in the retirement age, but also with Macron’s reform itself. Because the French President has often raised the issue of major pension reforms – and then postponed them again. Macron actually wanted to simplify the complicated French pension system during his first term in office, then came the yellow vests, then came Corona. Now, just a few months after the start of his second term in office, everything is supposed to happen very quickly.
Last week, the President met with the most important heads of his parliamentary majority to find a common line. Even within his own political camp, the reform is controversial. In order to swiftly implement his plans, Macron first considered including the increase in the retirement age through an amendment in the budget law, which the parliament is still debating in October. A proposal opposed by his ally François Bayrou from the liberal Mouvement Démocrate that such a hasty action would split society.
“Retirement is like the horizon, when you think you’re approaching it, it recedes again.”
Macron’s new approach is now to develop its own draft law by the end of the year, which Parliament should decide on by January 2023 at the latest. This leaves two months for coordination with the unions and associations, which Macron has also made clear should not become negotiations. Should the trade unions nevertheless oppose him, he would add the reform to the budget law by means of an amendment.
Not much remains today of the ambitious reform plans from the French President’s first term in office. At that time, Macron wanted to fundamentally change the French pension system, merge the 42 different state pension funds and abolish privileges for individual professional groups. What remains is the increase in the retirement age. Macron has not yet specified what else could be in the new law. During the election campaign he had also promised to increase the minimum pension from 980 euros to 1100 euros.
Macron and his government justify the fact that everything should now go so quickly by saying that the money from the pension reform is urgently needed. People are getting older, there aren’t 36 different options, said French Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt recently in an interview. “You can raise taxes, nobody wants that, you can keep going into debt, but that’s no longer possible – or you just work longer.” The French government reasoned that the money saved could only be used in good time for other political measures, such as education or health care, if progress was made quickly.
The French employers’ association Medef welcomes the government’s new schedule. CGT chairman Philippe Martinez, on the other hand said last week on the France 2 channel: “All unions in France are against working until 64 or 65 years of age.”
Criticism also comes from the opposition. Both the left-wing alliance Nupes and the extreme right-wing Rassemblement National have announced opposition to the reform. In an emergency, the opposition could overthrow the government with a vote of no confidence. However, this would also require the approval of the conservative Republicans, which has so far been considered unlikely. In the event of a vote of no confidence, Macron has already threatened to dissolve parliament and call new elections. He seems serious this time.