Tensions are becoming increasingly acute between the executive and the social partners. After their dispute over unemployment insurance, the dispute extends to another issue: Agirc-Arrco, the private supplementary pension fund, which is co-managed by employer and employee organizations. In a daily interview The echoes on Tuesday October 3, Patrick Martin, the president of Medef, denounces “interventionism” of the State, which manifests itself in a proposed drain on the resources of this parity regime.
This is the first time that the business leader has spoken publicly in such strong terms. Thirteen days before a social conference, which is supposed to reflect the desire of those in power to co-construct reforms with civil society actors, Emmanuel Macron and his government are, once again, accused of brutalizing the bodies intermediaries.
If it took a new step on Tuesday, with Mr. Martin’s declarations, the controversy around Agirc-Arrco did not arise out of nowhere. It began to emerge at the end of 2022, during consultations with unions and employers on pension reform. At the time, it was more a question of requesting the joint system to finance the revaluation of small pensions, which was finally implemented in the reform promulgated in mid-April.
Participate in “general balance”
Since then, the discourse seems to have evolved a little. Public authorities are now asking for an effort to help balance our pay-as-you-go system. At this stage, no precise amount has been put forward, but Olivier Dussopt raised, in public and during an exchange with the CGT, the hypothesis of a contribution oscillating between 1 and 3 billion euros per year, to term. Invited on Tuesday morning by Europe 1, the Minister of Labor did not provide details on his intentions. He limited himself to confirming that Agirc-Arrco will be updated ” contribution “ to participate in “general balance” of our entire pension system – that is to say by considering all the schemes (whether basic, supplementary, special, etc.).
To justify his position, Mr. Dussopt argued that Agirc-Arrco will benefit from the pension reform: thanks to the postponement to 64 of the legal retirement age, the private supplementary pension fund, which was already surplus of 5.1 billion in 2022, will see its situation improve, “1 to 1.2 billion euros” in 2026, according to Mr. Dussopt. Therefore, he added, ” he is normal “ that Agirc-Arrco contributes its share to prevent our entire pay-as-you-go system from being in the red, due to the deficits which are plaguing certain pension schemes – notably those basic for private sector workers. A logic qualified as “hold-up” by the CGT.
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