The different aspects of the text were presented this Tuesday afternoon by the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne.
Here it is: after long months of consultation, Elisabeth Borne finally unveils this Tuesday afternoon the pension reform project carried by the government, during a press conference in Paris. One “project of justice, balance and progress“, wants to believe the Prime Minister, against which unions as political opponents are upwind.
LIVE – Pension reform: the legal retirement age will reach 64 in 2030
A little more than three years after the presentation of the previous systemic reform project by Edouard Philippe, abandoned following the explosion of the Covid-19 pandemic, the executive is therefore returning to this explosive file. Legal age, pensions, long careers, special schemes, senior indexes… Le Figaro provides an update on the main aspects of this highly anticipated project.
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Legal age raised to 64 by 2030
The “Red line“so feared by the unions will indeed be crossed: the project proposes to gradually raise the legal retirement age from September 1, 2023, “3 months per year“. Today set at 62 years, it will therefore reach 63 years and 3 months by mid-2027, and 64 years in 2030. And not the 65 years initially desired by Emmanuel Macron. These latter “were never an end in themselves“, noted Élisabeth Borne, presenting this turnaround as being the result of”weeks of dialogue». «I am grateful to all the social partners and to the various political forces, even those most opposed to any reform, for having contributed to this collective exercise“, she said.
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Duration of contribution: an acceleration of the Touraine reform of 2014
Beyond the legal age, the government will not modify the period of contribution necessary to retire with a full rate: it remains fixed at 172 quarters, or 43 annuities, as provided for by the Touraine law of 2014. However , if this text planned to gradually increase this duration by 2035, the government’s project proposes to go faster, “in 2027, at the rate of one additional quarter per year“. Thus, people born in 1968 and beyond will leave at age 64, excluding early departures.
In addition, the postponement of the legal retirement age as well as the acceleration of the extension of the contribution period “will be transposed in a strictly identical manner to the rules applicable to civil servants“, noted Minister Stanislas Guérini.
No modification for the starting age without discount
For its part, the age of cancellation of the discount – that at which the pension is no longer reduced according to the number of quarters missing – remains unchanged, at 67 years.
End of the “main” special diets
A highly sensitive subject, the special pension schemes enjoyed by many professionals will be redesigned in the government’s project. They “are no longer justified in the eyes of the French“, and the retirement ages they allow”are no longer adapted to the reality of these professions“Explains the executive.
The schemes concerned are those of the RATP, employees of the electricity and gas industries, staff of the Banque de France, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, as well as clerks and employees of notaries. In these different areas, thegrandfather clauseapplies: new entrants from September 1, 2023 will therefore be affiliated to the general pension scheme. In addition, for those already in post, “the progressive two-year shift in the legal age and the acceleration of the Touraine reform will apply to current employees of special schemes, but taking into account their specificities“, specifies the government.
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The regimes of the Paris Opera, the Comédie Française and the fishermen are not, as anticipated, changed, as are the autonomous regimes enjoyed by lawyers and the liberal professions.
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Pensions: an increase in the minimum to 1200 euros
As promised by Emmanuel Macron, the minimum pension will increase by 100 euros per month. For future retirees from September 1, an employee paid at the minimum wage throughout his career will therefore receive 85% of the net minimum wage, or just under 1200 euros gross per month. Farmers, employees and craftsmen-traders are concerned by this measure, and this minimum pension from the general scheme as from the agricultural scheme will be indexed to the minimum wage, not to inflation.
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For people already retired, the government wants to go further, by upgrading small pensions to the level of the minimum wage. “Thanks to this measure, nearly two million small pensions will be increased“, specified Elisabeth Borne. However, this measure, desired by several actors, including Les Républicains and trade union organizations such as the CPME or the CFDT, will be specified in the coming days. “I think in particular of the Republicans“, insisted the Prime Minister.
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Early departures: a “strengthening” of the system for long careers
If it will always be possible to leave earlier for people who started working young, the ages are shifting with the reform. Thus, people who can justify the conditions of the long career system – 22% of retirements in 2020 – will be able to leave two years before the legal age, i.e. at 62 years old. At the same time, people with careersvery long“will be able to leave at 60, and those who started before 16 will be able to leave”from 58 years old», if they have the required contribution period, increased by one year.
In addition, workers benefiting from a disability pension or from retirement for incapacity will be able to retire two years before the legal age, at 62, at the full rate. Similarly, people who have suffered accidents at work or an occupational disease resulting in a disability of at least 10% will also be able to leave at the age of 62, “if this incapacity is linked to exposure to hardship factors“. Finally, disabled workers will be able to retire from the age of 55, if they have contributed a certain number of quarters, and workers exposed to asbestos will be able to stop working at the age of 50.
It will also be possible to countup to 4 trimestersunder the old-age insurance for stay-at-home parents (AVPF), which covers people who stop working to care for a sick or disabled relative.
Difficulty: certain thresholds lowered
The professional prevention account (C2P), which notably makes it possible to retire earlier, will be modified: “The thresholds for the main occupational risk exposure factors will be lowered to allow more employees to benefit from an account“, indicates the executive. For example, the threshold for night work will increase from 120 to 100 nights per year. Similarly, the text will take into account polyexposure to risks, allowing the employees concerned to earn points more quickly and without limit.
Another development, the executive wants to make more use of C2P to allow workers in a difficult job to reorient themselves. For example, a point acquired by the C2P will finance 500 euros of training to change jobs, instead of 375 euros today. The professional branches will also have to identify the professions most exposed to risks, and a fund for the prevention of professional wear and tear endowed with one billion euros during the five-year period will have to be set up: it will finance in particular awareness-raising and prevention for these workers.
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Employment of seniors: towards an “index”
Among the main points, the executive also wishes to act for the employment of seniors. First, a “index seniorswill be published for all companies with more than 1,000 employees from this year and 300 employees from 2024. It will make it possible to “promote good practices and denounce bad ones», and an absence of publication will be equivalent to a «sanction».
In addition, the executive wants to make the progressive retirement system more flexible, and extend it to the public service as well as to the self-employed. “We will thus allow those who wish to go part-time, two years before the legal retirement age, by liquidating part of their retirement“, declared Elisabeth Borne, adding that she also wanted to act on the combination of employment and retirement.
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A “useful dialogue” with unions and parties
The government “a appris“. From the first attempt to reform pensions in 2018, Élisabeth Borne assured that she had “drawn the consequences“. This time, the Prime Minister therefore insisted more than ever on the “dense consultation” and the “helpful dialoguewhich have been held in recent months. “I am sure that the exchange, even in the event of disagreement on important points, makes us collectively progress“, she said, while the opposition to the text remains, at this stage, the majority.
To argue for a reformfair“, the head of government also stressed that”let accumulate“deficits”would be irresponsible“, and “make them even worse by advocating demagogic measures, such as lowering the retirement age, would be even more so».
The text expected in Parliament in February
Élisabeth Borne wants to go quickly, but strives not to be closed to dialogue. Presented to the Council of Ministers on January 23, the text, which will be integrated into an amending social security financing bill, will be submitted to the work of parliamentarians by February for implementation from September 1. .
«We are open to discussion“, hammered the Prime Minister, recalling throughout her speech the fruit of her negotiations with Les Républicains. “This presentation is not an end point. We are ready to further develop our project“, she continued. Before calling for his wishesa fair and constructive parliamentary debate».
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