The executive is not the only one to consider savings measures on pensions. Monday, June 21, the social partners, who manage Agirc-Arrco in a joint manner, initiate discussions on the financial balance of the supplementary pension system for employees in the private sector. The scheme, which pays 85 billion euros in benefits to some 13 million people, has been undermined by the recession linked to the Covid-19 epidemic. While they had returned to the green in 2019, the accounts deteriorated last year, with a “Overall result” which should be in the order of – 4 billion euros.
This deficit had been anticipated shortly after the start of the crisis, leading the board of directors of Agirc-Arrco to exercise its “Duty to alert” in October 2020. Provided for in national inter-professional agreements (ANI) of 2017 and 2019, this procedure is initiated when the financial reserves of the fund risk representing less than six months of pensions, over a period of fifteen years.
If this “Safety ratio” is no longer respected, the main employers ‘and unions’ organizations are then invited to sit around the table “With a view to adjusting resources or charges” of the device. It is therefore within this framework that the first negotiating session takes place on Monday, Agirc-Arrco’s reserves (estimated at 62.6 billion euros at the end of 2020) being likely to fall below the required threshold during the decade to come.
The employers want to limit pensions
The negotiations, which were preceded by several preparatory meetings, promise to be tight. Because to reconstitute the “nest egg” of Agirc-Arrco, one track seems to be closely studied by the employers: it would consist in slowing the progression of the pensions paid, for example by revaluing them below inflation or by temporarily blocking them. , in order to muzzle spending. “Employees have suffered more than retirees, who have hardly been affected by the crisis”, explains Eric Chevée, vice-president of the Confederation of small and medium-sized enterprises. Implied: if efforts must be required, it is seniors who have ceased their career to do so.
In the entourage of Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, the president of Medef, we are cautious, indicating that Monday’s meeting is a first step which aims to draw up an inventory. Agirc-Arrco will, of course, get out of “The imposed trajectory [par les ANI] “, we invoke, but “The difference is not major”. However, “We will not derogate from the strategic steering rules set in 2019”. In other words, there is no question of moving away from “Safety ratio”. But “The objective is not to freeze pensions”, adds Didier Weckner, President (Medef) of Agirc-Arrco.
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