The relationship between the government and the Pension Orientation Council is frosty. Proof of this is that the executive is seeking to replace its president, Pierre-Louis Bras. Several personalities were contacted in the spring and shortly before the summer break, announces the newspaper The world. The daily specifies that the departure of the president of the COR has not yet been confirmed but the government’s desire to turn the page on Pierre-Louis Bras is not surprising.
Since its forceps implementation of its pension reform, the government has been unleashed on the organization for its murderous analyzes of the latter. Last January, Pierre-Louis Bras assured that “spending was not slipping” and that there was no urgency to reform the French retirement system. Questioned before the National Assembly in July, he also pointed out that government reform would lead to “more spending” from 2050 due to “higher pensions”.
Discontent between the executive and the COR
Pierre-Louis Bras has been at the head of the Pension Orientation Council since 2015. This body is responsible for producing a report on the French pay-as-you-go pension system each year. To replace him, the government would have contacted at least four people, including Eric Aubry, special advisor to Gérard Larcher (LR).
After the intervention of Pierre-Louis Bras last January, during which he assured that spending was not “going off the rails” even if the COR predicted lasting deficits, the Prime Minister became annoyed by his speeches. Élisabeth Borne thus estimated that he was “perhaps” led to have a “fairly personal position on the work” of the body he chairs, during greetings to the press on January 23.
“His forecasts change all the time”
After the release of the report in the spring, which expressed concern that the pension system would still not be balanced in 2030 despite the reform, it was the Minister of the Economy who stepped up to the plate. “You can see that his forecasts change all the time,” criticized Bruno Le Maire.
Rarely, the COR issued a press release to affirm “that there is no substantial revision between the projections for 2022 and those for 2023”. Pierre-Louis Bras also repeated that “retirement expenses are not slipping”, as he did in January during a hearing, which became famous, before the deputies. His possible ouster at the head of the COR therefore takes place in a context of strong tensions with the government.