Voices rise, in some economists, so that the highest pensions are used. An option rejected as a whole by the government.
by Bertrand Bissuel and Thibaud Métais
This is a subject that politicians of all stripes scrupulously dodge. When the hypothesis of a pensioner effort is mentioned to participate in the resorption of the deficit in our distribution system, the doors close. From left to right, the debate seems impossible. And the government immediately dismissed it in its reform project: no question of taking measures which would have the effect of degrading the amount of pensions. An orientation whose merits are discussed, even criticized, by a few economists and a handful of snipers, in the name of equity between generations, especially after the crisis linked to the COVID-19, during which the protection of our elders was erected as a priority.
The doctrine of power in place was stated by Emmanuel Macron, during the 2022 presidential campaign. “The system (…) no longer allows to finance pensions, declared the outgoing head of state, a few days before the first Tour. The question is: how do we adjust it? By lowering pensions? It is not fair. “Through this decay, he implicitly expressed his aversion to two scenarios: revalue pensions at a lower pace In inflation-that is to say under-indexes in relation to the evolution of prices-and increase the rate of the generalized social contribution (CSG) applicable to pensions.
Since then, the executive and its allies have been striving at this line. “What we exclude (…) is to lower the amount of pensions,” said Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, the 1 er December 2022, in an interview with the Parisian daily . “Targeting certain retirees (…), it would be destabilizing the social contract,” added, in Les Echos, on January 8, the president of the Modem, François Bayrou, who nevertheless called to “guarantee a fair distribution of efforts”. The Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, hammered it on Sunday, January 15, on France Inter: “Our goal is to finance this reform by work, not to amputate the purchasing power of retirees, whatever they are , whatever their income. “
” absolute red line “
Almost all the deputies of the majority hold the same speech. “Lacking pensions is an absolute red line,” launched Aurore Bergé, the president of the Renaissance group in the National Assembly, on January 8, on France 5. “I do not see what it means to use Retirees to finance our distribution system, comments Eric Woerth, Oise Renaissance deputy, with the world. They are already participating, in particular by paying the CSG. We must preserve the level of pensions. “” Put retirees to contribution is a total nonsense, “said Nicolas Turquois, Democrat deputy of Vienne and co-author, in 2021, of a report on small pensions.
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