Is the government knowingly leaving aside the special pension schemes for parliamentarians, when it wants to eliminate others, such as that of the RATP, in its pension reform project? This is what a tweet from the Brèves de presse account wrongly implies. “The executive wants to abolish several special regimes,” reads this message published on January 24. Questioned in a hearing at the National Assembly on the regime of the Assembly and the Senate, the Minister of Labor was surprisingly more flexible. It is a decision that is up to their office, he explained, without saying more…”
Renaissance MP Sacha Houlié denounced a “fake news”, stating that the special pension scheme for deputies had disappeared in November 2017.
FAKE OFF
The government does not have the power to modify the pension rules for deputies and senators. It is the parliamentarians themselves who have the capacity, more specifically the Bureau of the National Assembly and that of the Senate. These two bodies, made up of deputies and senators, are intended to govern the “organization and internal functioning” of the Assembly and the Senate.
MPs have repeatedly changed the rules of their retirement. In November 2017, the Office “aligned the pension plan for deputies with common law”, according to the website of the National Assembly*. The supplementary scheme, which was optional, has been abolished. MPs’ pensions now follow the same rules as those of civil servants. This pension is 683.38 euros net per month, after five years in office.
It was the change of majority in the National Assembly that led to this reform. During his campaign, Emmanuel Macron pledged to abolish special regimes for parliamentarians. The Macronist deputies, an absolute majority in the National Assembly in 2017, applied the promise. The Senate, where the elected Les Républicains (LR) remained in the majority in the 2017 and 2020 elections, did not do so. An elected LR, however, wants to modify the rules of the Senate: Le Figaro reports that MP Pierre-Henri Dumont has tabled an amendment to the pension reform project currently defended by the government to abolish this special scheme. His amendment was declared out of order.
Senators therefore still have their own pension fund, which has also been reformed several times. Those born after January 1, 1955 can claim their rights from the age of 62. This right to retirement is “intended to compensate for the break suffered in the professional career [des sénateurs] because of their election, and to guarantee them a retirement income ”, justifies the site of the Senate. This system is funded by senators.
In its pension reform project, the government plans to leave some special schemes, such as those of the Paris Opera or the Comédie Française. Questioned on this subject, Olivier Dussopt justified himself, arguing about the “difficulty of practicing these trades, for example dance, beyond a certain age”. The Minister also justified the maintenance of the special scheme for fishermen, arguing that this profession “is one of the most difficult and, unfortunately, the most exposed to the risk of death in service”.
* Contacted by 20 minutesthe National Assembly and the Senate did not respond to our requests.