The subject is as technical as it is key for the adoption of the pension reform. On Thursday, senators decided to allow people who started working between the ages of 20 and 21 to retire early.
Recognized as “long careers”, these people could turn the page on working life from the age of 63, after the adoption of amendments tabled by senators from groups of all stripes.
Key to an agreement between senator and deputies
The extension of the long career scheme is one of the main demands of Les Républicains deputies. If the Senate has already voted to postpone the legal retirement age from 63 to 64, the adoption of the reform in the Assembly is suspended on the vote of the LR deputies, divided on the subject.
The senators’ vote on long careers was therefore important in view of the discussions which will be held next week between representatives of the two chambers to try to reach an agreement on the bill in the joint committee (CMP). It was also supported by the government.
Complexity
However, the senators did not return to the question of the contribution period necessary to be eligible for the early retirement scheme. A sensitive point.
In its bill, the government had planned to require a minimum contribution period of 44 years. It was without counting on the Republicans and in particular the deputy Aurélien Pradié. This one hammered that it was unfair that the long careers are obliged to contribute more than the other policyholders.
Under pressure from these deputies and members of the majority, the government ended up conceding that the minimum contribution period required could be 43 years, which will not prevent some people who started working early from having to contribute between 43 years and 44 years in fact according to their date of birth (to reach the early departure age).
Confusion
What to sow confusion, including in the ranks of the senators who were several Thursday to say in pain to understand the complexity of the device. “It’s extremely complicated,” admitted the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, Thursday. However, he warned of the cost that would represent too much flexibility in the system (number of quarters of contributions required before a certain age, early departure age limits, etc.).
The senatorial amendments lowering to 43 years the minimum period of contribution necessary for all long careers were rejected, the rapporteur of the project in the Senate, René-Paul Savary, having been reluctant, as well as Bruno Retailleau, the boss of the senators LR. The government also came out against it, while opening the door for further debate: Olivier Dussopt indicated that the discussion would continue in the CMP, with the need to find funding in the event of the adoption of the measure.