Pension reform: “There will be no need for 49.3”, says Éric Woerth

The pension reform is the flagship reform of Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term. If we still do not know at what age the French will be able to retire, 63, 64 or 65, we know that the government will start by displaying the highest level: 65 years against 62 years today. The subject will soon be tackled by Elisabeth Borne who will present her project to the unions and employers in mid-December. But will the Prime Minister draw an eighth 49.3 in the National Assembly to have points of her reform adopted? According to Éric Woerth, quaestor of the National Assembly, guest of Europe Matin Thursday, “there will be no need for 49.3”.

Is the use of 49.3 an admission of weakness by the government? No, replies Éric Woerth who believes that it is “an admission of realism in relation to a situation where you are in the relative majority”. “We have political groups which announce, without looking at the content of a text, which will not vote for… We are talking about the State budget, the Social Security budget, the financing of public services, the financing health insurance, it is natural for the government to do so”, he decided at the microphone of Europe 1.

“We removed, 12 years ago, the 60 years with Nicolas Sarkozy, it was a much more important totem! There were millions of people in the street and at the same time it was no longer disputed” , he argued.

The wrong time?

In a context of inflation, war, risk of power cuts, is this really the right time to pass a reform that is so unpopular with the French? “What would be explosive would be to be irresponsible with the pension system. We have to look at things lucidly, there are fewer and fewer active people, more and more pensioners, we have to readapt our system of retirement to guarantee this chain of responsibility”, advanced Éric Woerth, Renaissance deputy from Oise at the microphone of Europe 1.

The risk of a social explosion does not frighten the quaestor of the National Assembly who believes that “the country is much less fractured than we think”. “We share a lot more goals together than you think, protecting the planet, fighting global warming… Ten years ago you had no big goal in common, none, none that requires constraints, which requires measures, which requires transformations, changes of vision”, assured the former minister. “I don’t know why everyone sees everything in black.”