2023 will be the year of pension reform. After the abandonment of the first pension reform because of the Covid-19 pandemic almost three years ago, the upheaval wanted by Emmanuel Macron will take place next year, there is no longer any doubt. The government has been consulting the social partners since September on various subjects such as the retirement age, long careers, hardship and the minimum pension.
For the time being, very little information has filtered concerning these various subjects, even if the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt slipped a few marbles during an interview given to Les Echos on November 14. Regarding the special regimes, he has already indicated that the future reform would concern “those of the electricity and gas industries, the RATP, even that of the Banque de France”. That of the Paris Opera and the Comédie Française, or even that of sailors, would be excluded from this reform. As was the case for the SNCF, the government intends to favor the so-called grandfather clause option, “which closed access to the special regime for new agents”.
Regarding the minimum pension, the Minister of Labor gave the figure of 1,100 euros per month, explaining daily that it would be the amount for a full career. “In view of inflation and the revaluation of the Smic, we intend to go around 85% of the net Smic”, he added, in order to create “a sufficient gap between the minimum old age (953 euros for a person alone today) and the minimum pension, in order to make work worthwhile”. According to government calculations, 25% of new retirees would thus benefit from a higher pension. One question remains, however: would this minimum affect all retirees or only those who will be as soon as the reform comes into force? The question has not yet been settled.
Despite these first elements of response given in the media, many gray areas remain around the pension reform. According to information from RTL, a major announcement will be made by the government in December on this subject. Here’s what we know.
According to information from RTL, the government has made its choice regarding the new legal retirement age and has decided to set it at 65, against the opinion of the opposition. This campaign promise by Emmanuel Macron is the thorniest point of the reform and the government is aware of it, but will go to the end of its project. Quoted by the radio, a heavyweight of the executive explains: “Let’s put everyone in the street, you might as well push the cursor to the maximum”.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne will present the pension reform to the French in December and this new legal age will of course be part of it. As for the date, RTL mentions a day “between December 10 and 20”, just before the end of the year holidays. The objective, explains the radio, “to make a simpler and more didactic presentation than that which had been made by Edouard Philippe in December 2019”. Then, he will have to have his reform adopted and the use of 49.3 is already mentioned…
After this official presentation to the French, the text carried by Elisabeth Borne will be officially tabled in the Council of Ministers at the beginning of 2023, then debated in Parliament, indicates RTL. According to the Prime Minister’s entourage, she will not hesitate to resort once again to 49.3, in order to have the reform adopted without a vote, because it is considered a priority by the government. If the timetable desired by the executive is respected, then Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform will be applied next summer. Regarding the points to be clarified, the French will have to wait until December 20 at the latest to know them…
