In these troubled times, saving the pension regime by distribution should be considered a great national cause. For demographic reasons and because the economic situation darkens, the balance of the regime is again threatened, according to the latest forecasts of the pension orientation council, which provides for a deficit of the order of 12.5 billion of euros in 2027 and 20 billion by 2032.
No one plans to question the foundations of the system, which is based on the close solidarity between assets and retirees, it would seem quite logical that all political and union actors are involved without ulterior motives in a cause that is not only financial.
The subject is eminently social because strong inequalities remain to be flushed out in a system which is still far from unified. It is also societal, at the time when, both the work value has never been praised so much and the relationship to work so questioned. If, like most of our European neighbors, we are doomed to work longer because life expectancy has increased in recent decades, then we must put the question of better living at work. It is also necessary to mobilize companies around the maintenance of seniors, after years of abusive use of pre -retites.
worries about a force passage
The second five -year term of Emmanuel Macron, who had opened up on the promise of less vertical governance, could have been the occasion for a new approach. However, the Head of State has deliberately chosen to make the pension file a demonstration of force, proof that he is still able to reform despite the absence of an absolute majority in the National Assembly. The concessions he made on Wednesday, September 28, in his own majority, worried about the consequences of a force pass in Parliament in the coming weeks, should not hide the fact that he conceded the minimum.
The President of the Republic always wants the reform to quickly come into force, in the summer of 2023. He said he was ready for consultation before Christmas but does not intend to move on the flagship of his presidential project, which consists in lengthening the retirement age with four months each year with 65 years for horizon.
This amounts to assuming frontal opposition to unions, all opposed to this measure, to open the way to street demonstrations which no one knows how to predict the outcome, to cut themselves a little more from the left to try to Ralling part of the right and taking the majority of the French in reverse. The addition is heavy.
Admittedly, no major reform of pensions were adopted calmly in France. The departure points of view are too divergent, especially with rebellious France, which still promises the return to retirement at 60. But, by giving the feeling that he transforms the pension file into a demonstration of presidential prepotence with the key to a threat of dissolution to bend the reluctance, Emmanuel Macron does nothing to describe the spirits nor promote co -responsibility.
The postponement of the legal age has for the first effect to penalize those who entered the labor market early. It is not bearable for those who exercise painful professions, it is unfair for those, in particular women, who know chopped careers. Can we deal seriously these special cases in a few weeks? The best disputed unions, such as the CFDT, have some good reasons to consider that once again we put the knife under their throat.