In France, the retirement age begins at 62. A planned increase caused massive protests in the past and was rejected. Now the government is making a new attempt to reform the system. Among other things, longer work should be more lucrative and promoted.
The French government is making a new attempt at pension reform. The originally planned and highly controversial increase in the retirement age from 62 to 65 is not set in stone, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told the France Info broadcaster. The bill is due to be presented to the cabinet on January 23, two weeks later than initially announced. Until then, the Prime Minister wants to negotiate with the social partners.
The head of the largest union, CFDT, Laurent Berger, called an increase in the retirement age a “red line”. In its current form, the reform will lead to social unrest, he told the newspaper Dépêche du Midi. According to a survey by Harris Interactive published on Monday, 54 percent of respondents reject the pension reform. The plans are therefore primarily supported by people over 65, who will not be affected.
President Emmanuel Macron promised in his New Year’s speech that the reform would take people with particularly long working lives and interrupted contribution periods into account. There should also continue to be exceptions for difficult jobs. There had been massive protests during an earlier attempt at pension reform in Macron’s first term, which was canceled due to the corona pandemic.
Prime Minister Borne named the goal of balancing the pension system by 2030. There are other ways to achieve this than raising the retirement age, she emphasized. The discussion is about the extension of the contribution times.
The government also wants to ensure that more seniors than before remain in the workforce. At the end of 2021, just over a third (36 percent) of 60 to 64 year olds were active. The government is considering introducing a bonus for companies that specifically hire seniors – or introducing sanctions for companies that don’t. There are also plans to raise the minimum pension to 85 percent of the minimum wage.
