It’s the elephant in the middle of the room. Ministers, deputies, advisers and small hands of the presidential party admit it half voice : the pension reform may well have been presented as ” fair “ et “balanced”, it will not weigh on the French in the same way. Also, in the aftermath of his presentation, Tuesday, January 10, the members of the majority are almost surprised by a soft entry into the atmosphere. “It Comes Out Right”, they say to Matignon, while fearing the spark that would ignite the country. Haunted by the big strikes of 1995, the power is worried about a social explosion and the blocking of refineries, more than the mobilization of January 19th.
Another risk hangs over, more muted. “Opinion can be a retarded blade”, dreads Olivier Véran, the government spokesman. An invisible but real anger, fueled by doubts about the distribution of effort. At the executive office of the presidential party, Renaissance, Bruno Le Maire and Olivier Dussopt presented, Monday, January 9, the government project in front of about thirty participants, before a convivial aperitif and its more relaxed conversations. “This reform is good for our electorate”, agree three leaders of the majority. Understand: painless for executives, retirees and employers.
The Minister of Labor gives an illustration of this, in spite of himself, the next day. In charge of the after-sales service for the reform, Olivier Dussopt responds on BFM-TV to French people, including a 40-year-old executive who started working at 25, who will receive full retirement at 66. “It won’t change your situation”, assures the minister. Anxious to be precise, he adds that the person concerned is now undergoing a “big discount” if he retires at age 62, before having contributed his forty-three annuities. ” Tomorrow, he boasts, (…) you can leave at 64, but there will be a less significant discount”. ” Very well “said the white collar.
“Sacrificial Reform”
This imbalance has been identified within the government. Similarly, a minister noted that retirees have, on average, higher incomes than working people, but publicly sticks to the line formulated by Elisabeth Borne: “Our project is to act for current retirees and for their purchasing power. » Marie Lebec, Renaissance MP for Yvelines, recognizes without batting an eyelid that this “sacrificial reform” rests first on the French of the middle and intermediate classes, who will have to work two more years. “There is an aberration in the system”admits the elected representative from the right, familiar with the circles of senior executives in the private sector who, at 55, sometimes jostle to benefit from a departure plan, a period of unemployment and early retirement, before to sit on boards of directors… in short, which optimize the rule. “Nothing illegal, but it’s expensive and on some level it’s indecent”she points.
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