Elisabeth Borne maintains the course on the explosive issue of pensions. In a long interview with Parisian of Friday, December 2, the Prime Minister confirms that the reform will be presented “before the Christmas holidays”the aim being to “save our pay-as-you-go system” by forcing assets to “work longer”. She brings few new indications on the very content of this unpopular project, but says “determined” to carry it out, in a social climate which is strained, with soaring prices and the threat of power cuts during the winter.
The head of government reaffirms what Emmanuel Macron said during the presidential campaign: women and men must extend their professional careers. « L’engagement » which had been taken consists in shifting from 62 years to 65 years old the age of opening rights to a pension, she recalled. By pushing this slider gradually “by 2031”all pension schemes will be able to regain a ” balance “ financier “within ten years”.
The argument had been used many times before, but Mr.me Borne mentions it in a serious tone – dramatizing, his opponents will say –, which was not necessarily usual: “I will not let the French people believe that, without reform, we would not put our system in danger. » To support her point, she mentions “a deficit that will exceed 12 billion euros in 2027”. “If we do nothing, we will have more than 100 billion euros in debt [supplémentaires] », she adds. Therefore, it is imperative to ” to move “to stop account drift, but also to “protect the purchasing power of retirees”.
The Prime Minister’s rhetoric is also striking, because it focuses, essentially, on the need to ensure the viability of the system. During the race for the Elysée, Mr. Macron had put forward other concerns, in order to justify the postponement of the legal age of departure: such a measure, he indicated, will make it possible to make savings which will offer margins to finance other public policies (dependency care, education, etc.). This idea does not appear in the interview given to the Parisian.
Possible compromise
The tenant of Matignon wishes to emphasize that nothing is arbitrated at this stage, since the consultation on this site with the social partners continues. She assures that she is willing to study the solutions that the unions and employers would suggest to her to bring the system back to the waterline. But it also sets limits: there is no question, she insists, of “reduce the amount of pensions or increase the cost of labor through additional contributions”. On this basis, one of the possible avenues could go through the coupling of two parametric changes: an age of opening of rights set at 64 years (instead of 65 years) and an acceleration of the increase in the contribution period to be eligible for a full pension. This scenario was recently defended by right-wing and center-right senators during the examination of the Social Security budget for 2023, as Ms.me Thick headed. She also considers it possible to reach a compromise with certain political forces – “The Republicans, for example” : “We must be able to find a way. »
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