2023-04-30 16:02:36
Pension reform was finally enacted in France, including its most controversial article pushing back the legal retirement age to 64. A text that has brought millions of people out into the streets for a social movement on a scale unmatched since the Yellow Vests. If the demonstrations have calmed down since the decision of the Constitutional Council to approve the reform, unions and opposition parties are calling for a massive mobilization on May 1. And meanwhile, on the other side of the border, in Belgium, our neighbors cringe. Because for them, the bill is even higher with a retirement age pushed back to 67 by 2030.
It was in the border town of Mouscron that we went to ask our Belgian neighbors their opinion on the French social movement against the pension reform. “Oh la la la la, if you want to get me started on this, you’re not ready,” enthuses Catherine, a 66-year-old retiree. “With us, it’s 67 years old, and you’re complaining for 64 years old,” she says indignantly. “You have to work and teach young people to take over, except that it doesn’t happen overnight,” said the sixty-year-old.
“Ah they can growl if they want”
“Ah they can grumble if they want, but times have changed, people are living longer and if it continues like this, in 25 years, no one will have a pension in France”, launches another retiree, former pharmacist , who prefers not to tell us his name. He worked in 1969 to end his career in 2014, “and the last few years it’s like I was 20,” he says. “It’s abused,” adds Jean-Marie, shopkeeper. Reactions like that, there are a plethora of them, including among politicians. “As we live longer, you don’t have to have done the ENA to understand that you will have to work more”, recognizes Paul-Olivier Delannois, the burgomaster (mayor) of Tournai, another Belgian city on the border. And besides, according to him, there is a demand in this direction: “I have a lot of municipal agents who wish to work beyond the legal age”, assures the elected official.
The unanimous argument for taking a dim view of the French protest is therefore that the grass is still a little greener here. “I propose to go and demonstrate in France in favor of retirement at 64 in Belgium,” Benoit even quips on Facebook. Because among our neighbours, the postponement of the starting age to 67 in 2030 has passed cream, and this is what ulcerates the main interested parties. “They are right to fight for their rights,” proclaims Yasmine, 16, for whom leaving at 67 “is a lot. “But she did not protest so far when it was decided:” If I had known, I would probably have also taken to the streets, “laments the teenager. “In Belgium it’s 65 or 67 years old and we don’t say anything to look for the error”, fulminates Marc. “Future reforms talk about increasing retirement to 66 and then to 67 for us. No strike! We are happy! adds Alessandro.
In fact, none of the interviewees was able to tell us when the reform had passed in Belgium. “We don’t have a choice, and it didn’t generate any dispute without me being able to explain why,” asks Jean-Marie, the shopkeeper from Mouscron. A mystery which is probably explained by the fact that this decision does not date from yesterday. Indeed, as early as 2013, this hypothesis had been raised, and endorsed by the federal government formed after the 2014 elections. And those who remember it were fiercely opposed to it for some. At the time, the belgian trade union FGTB denounced a “measure [qui] makes no sense since life expectancy in good health in Belgium is currently 64 years on average”, while claiming a return “to the legal pension age at 65”. “With us, it didn’t make so many waves, but for the French, I think that this reform is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said the mayor of Tournai.
#complaining #indignant #Belgian #neighbors