Mith a fifth day of action against the planned pension reform, the French trade unions kept up the pressure on the minority government under Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Thursday. Participation in the strike dropped to 14 percent, which the unions justified with the school holidays. The chairmen of the eight most important trade unions demonstrated unity at a joint rally in Albi in southern France. They threatened a total blockade of the country for March 7th.
The head of government is even more concerned about the muddled situation in the National Assembly. Although she agreed to make further concessions to the opposition Republicans (LR), they refused to support her in a partial vote. Article 2 of the pension reform bill, designed to incentivize the employment of older workers, was defeated by Republican votes after a heated late-night debate. That article required companies to record older workers. However, the so-called age index displeased a number of business-friendly Republicans, who sensed an additional administrative burden behind it.
Prime Minister Borne was taken by surprise by the defeat in the vote. President Emmanuel Macron was outraged and accused the opposition of having “completely lost the compass”. His criticism was directed particularly at the Republicans, whose presidential candidate had campaigned for a retirement age of 65 last spring. The new LR boss Eric Ciotti, who comes from the right wing, sees himself as an advocate for little people and only gave his approval to the legislative package after it had been lowered to 64 years and the minimum pensions had been improved. But he does not succeed in controlling party rebels like the 36-year-old MP Aurélien Pradié.
Pradié urged that the minimum contribution period for young professionals under the age of 21 be reduced to 43 years. At parliamentary question time, Prime Minister Borne then surprised Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire with a new concession. Anyone who started working at the age of 17 can draw a full pension after just 43 years of contributions.
The Finance Minister warns of a billion-dollar hole
The Department of Labor then revised its calculation table. That didn’t lessen the outrage. Anyone who started working at the age of 16 must continue to pay in 44 years of contributions, even if they started working at the age of 18. Pradié then asked if the government was making fun of him. Finance Minister Le Maire intervened and warned that if the contribution period for career starters under the age of 21 were to be reduced to 43 years in general, a new billion-dollar deficit would arise. According to the Finance Minister, the concession for people who started working at the age of 17 is already creating a financing gap of more than 500 million euros. It is becoming increasingly apparent how badly the reform plans were prepared.
The promise wrested from the Republicans that all “small” pensioners will receive a minimum pension of 1,200 euros has also proven to be a bluff. Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt admitted in a radio show on Thursday that only 250,000 current pensioners and about 40,000 future pensioners will be affected by the minimum pension level of €1,200 a month. It had sounded very different when Borne presented the reform project.
The deliberations in the first reading in the National Assembly should be completed on Monday. The leader of the right-wing populist RN faction, Marine Le Pen, has tabled a motion of no confidence, apparently hoping to rally a majority against the government. The final vote on the pension reform must take place by the end of March at the latest. President Macron justifies the increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64 years with necessary savings. According to calculations, these could amount to 17.7 billion euros annually.