Whatever the scale of the next mobilization against the pension reform and despite the threats of blockages, Bruno Le Maire affirmed, “it is essential that the majority unite because their political identity is at stake” . No concession will therefore be made on the legal retirement age, pushed back from 62 to 64 years old, but “openings are possible” said the Minister of the Economy, guest of Europe 1 on Tuesday.
A “fundamentally fair” reform, for Bruno Le Maire
Friday, the Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal gave some pledges on the possible negotiations on the question of chopped careers and the employment of seniors. If the government says it is listening, it does not seem willing to change the starting age, set at 64 years. “One of the elements of the political identity of this majority, one of the fundamental elements, is work, the valuation of work, the fair remuneration of work. This pension reform is a guarantee that the distribution system will be preserved. It is in this, that in my eyes, it is fundamentally fair, it protects the most modest”, he continued at the microphone of Europe 1.
Adopted by the Council of Ministers on Monday morning, the minister wants “there to be few or no dissonant voices” behind a reform which “preserves solidarity between generations” and which allows “to improve the pensions of small retirees”. The text will be examined in the social affairs committee from next Monday before being debated in public session in the hemicycle from February 6.
“Work is at the heart of our identity”
It is in the name of “work value” that Bruno Le Maire wishes to “fight for this reform”. “Work is at the heart of our identity. We have created work, we have created jobs, we have created more than 1.2 million jobs over the past five years. We can achieve full employment, we We are fighting for the revaluation of work, we have put in place schemes for profit-sharing, participation, tax-free bonus, employee shareholding”, he listed.
The latest pension reform?
For 30 years, the pension system has been constantly reformed. Will this reform be the last? “It will be up to the French people to judge”, replies the Minister of the Economy before adding that today, “there is a reform to be passed” and that it is “always difficult to tell the people who need to work longer”. “It’s easier to do the ostrich policy, put your head in the sand and say ‘don’t worry, sleep well, good people, everything will be fine’ except that we will end up with deficits which will be insurmountable, a weakened regime and a distribution which, as a result, will no longer be guaranteed.
Bruno Le Maire, assured him, “in 2030, the pension system will be in balance while from next year, it will no longer be”.