Emmanuel Macron arrived at dawn on Tuesday at the Rungis market, for his first outing in direct contact with the French since the launch of his pension reform. Asked about this text, he relied on the “common sense” of the French on Tuesday and reiterated that “we must work a little longer” to finance the pension system, also adding that this would create more wealth for the country. Do these two arguments justify this reform?
“There is a lot of evidence in this affair that is not said: France works less than its main competitors, it is a truth. If it worked as much as the most active of our competitors, our domestic product would be superior. And we know that life expectancy is increasing and that demography is deteriorating,” said Alain Minc, economist and essayist, guest of Europe Matin on Tuesday.
“We live on credit”
Faced with an increasing life expectancy and a drop in the birth rate, how can the balance of the pension system be restored? There are three solutions according to Alain Minc. “The first, we lower pensions, it’s excluded. The second, we increase taxes on individuals or companies, it’s difficult and counterproductive. The third, we delay the retirement age”, a he listed.
“There is one thing that is not said, that politicians cannot say in such an emotional and populist France, which is that we have 3,000 billion in debt, we live on credit, we live by paying interest rates incredibly low interest rates, that is to say very close to those of Germany.If, and the whole world is watching us, we do not carry out this reform, our borrowing rate increases, for example, by 1%. I’ll do the math for you, it’s 2.5 billion the first year, 5 billion the second, 7.5 the third, 10 the fourth. It’s dizzying,” said Alain Minc at the microphone of Europe 1.
“We carry our 3,000 billion debt”
According to the economist, it is necessary to reassure the financial markets. “But obviously with the ambient, reigning Melenchonist atmosphere, the absurdity vis-à-vis the economic incomprehension which is specific to this country, it is very difficult to say the markets are watching us, this reform is an extremely strong in their eyes and we are obliged to do so because we carry our 3,000 billion debt. A major argument for implementing this reform, he continues before adding that it “is not easy for politicians to say what an observer can say in all ingenuity”.
“If we do not reassure the financial markets, we will be in a situation where there will be fewer nurses, fewer police officers, fewer teachers, fewer caregivers. We will be in a real rigor such that we do not ‘We haven’t seen any since the austerity plans of 30 years ago,’ he concludes.