On pensions, the executive and the right are still unable to agree, despite their many common ideas on this issue. On Saturday November 12, during the examination of the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS) for 2023, the senators of the groups Les Républicains (LR) and Union centriste (UC) adopted an amendment allowing the postponement of 62 years at 64 the age of entitlement to a pension. The measure was voted against the opinion of the government, although it is very similar to that defended by Emmanuel Macron, within the framework of a reform which must be presented at the beginning of 2023, normally. The hypothesis of an alliance, concluded later, remains open, however, the protagonists having sent signals of goodwill.
The provision approved on Saturday was carried by René-Paul Savary, senator LR from Marne. It is presented as a double trigger mechanism. Initially, a “national convention” would bring together personalities with varied profiles (social partners, representatives of the State, family and pensioner associations, experts). It is up to them to find solutions in favor of the employment of seniors and the financial rebalancing of the old-age branch by 2033.
If this convention did not reach a compromise, several parameter changes would occur from the 1is January 2024. The legal retirement age would therefore gradually increase from 62 to 64. In addition, the law of January 2014, known as the “Touraine law”, would be implemented more quickly than expected: thus, the contribution period required for the full rate would be set at forty-three years from the 1967 generation (instead of the 1973 generation).
This approach reflects a form of consistency among senators LR and UC, in the majority at the Luxembourg Palace. Over the past four years, during the debates on the PLFSS, they have approved amendments along the same lines. Without success, since the measures in question were not maintained in the final version of the legal texts.
“We cannot pre-empt decisions”
But, this time, the context is different, as recalled on Saturday by Jean-Christophe Combe, the Minister of Solidarity, who represented the government in the Hemicycle. “We agree on the objectives and on the themes that appear in your proposal”he said, citing in particular the will of “work longer to ensure the balance of our pension system. » The power in place “shares many observations with the senatorial majority and in particular the need to quickly reform our system of [pensions] »he added.
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