Will the conclave on the pensions wanted by François Bayrou will go to the end of the consultations supposed to end in May? In recent days, the discussions have in any case been shaken by the departures of certain members and the declarations of the Prime Minister, who buried the hypothesis of a return to 62 years. This “conclave” on pensions supposed to entrust to the social partners the improvement of the reform voted last year again meets this Thursday, March 20, in the vagueness. Narrative.
The announcement of a conclave “without taboo”
It all started in mid-January with a concession by François Bayrou, then Prime Minister for a few weeks, at the PS of Olivier Faure to avoid a motion of censorship of his government. In his declaration of general policy, the head of government had marked the way: first a “flash mission” of the Court of Auditors to work on “indisputable figures”, then a quarter of negotiation “without any totem (ni) taboo” even on the 64 years, subject to not “degrading the financial balance” of the pension system.
After a delay in ignition, first informal discussions finally started on January 17, after contradictory signals sent by the Prime Minister himself. After two hours of exchanges in Matignon, the CGT already noted “the extent of the disagreements”. However, the Prime Minister warned that the official dialogue could only really start in the merits when the report of the Court of Auditors would have provided encrypted details.
FO slams the door from the first day
This is how the “real” consultations started on February 27. But just over fifteen minutes after their start, the Force Ouvrière (FO) union decided to leave the consultation table, refusing to participate in a “masquerade”. “For us it’s over. We will not participate in this masquerade where we are said to be said that indeed the only solution, it is to extend the working hours for employees in this country,” launched the negotiator of FO Michel Beaugas, leaving the premises of the Prime Minister’s services where this meeting was held.
The representative of the union has rebellious of a letter, sent two days earlier by Matignon to set the objectives to be achieved, while claiming from the social partners to restore the financial balance of the pension system by 2030. “Neither the format, nor the perimeter, nor the method (of these consultations) suit us” and the letter sent to the social partners on Wednesday evening by Prime Minister François Bayrou Not coming, “continued the trade unionist.
François Bayrou causes indignation by excluding a return to 62 years
On March 16, less than a month after the start of discussions between social partners on the tracks to be found to amend the pension reform, François Bayrou expressed a very singular flip-flop. The Prime Minister who promised a few weeks earlier against deputies a debate without “taboo or totem” suddenly closed the door when retirement age at 62.
Asked about France Inter and Franceinfo about the possibility of this return to 62 years, against 64 years in the current law, the Prime Minister replied “no”. “The social conference knows very well […] What is the digital report […] I do not believe that the parametric question […] That is to say the question of saying ‘here is the age for everyone’, I do not believe that it is the only track, “he added. A betrayal for the left, which is not long in reacting. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader LFI, thus evokes” a fucking of mouth “, while the socialist Boris Vallaud warns against” the brutality of the word of speech “.
The employer organization U2P slams the door
48 hours after the Prime Minister’s declaration, the conclave is reduced by a new start: that of the employer organization U2P, which represents local companies. The organization announced Tuesday, March 18, leaving negotiations, hoping to “contribute to a general awareness”.
“Is it really serious in a context of structural deficits and alarming projections, to continue to take the path of a return from the legal retirement age to 62 years or a reduction in the duration of activity required to access retirement?”, She wondered in a press release, advocating on the contrary “drastic measures to restore the balance of our social schemes”.
The CGT leaves negotiations in turn
Wednesday, March 19, after Force Ouvrière and the U2P, it is the CGT’s turn to slam the door. Sophie Binet announced the departure of her organization of consultations in the face of the repeated refusal to return to the 62 years. “The Prime Minister and the employers unfortunately definitively buried this conclave. And it is very serious because the Prime Minister had committed to that these discussions were ‘without Totem, nor taboo’,” justified the Patroness of the CGT, after the vote of its bodies.
After having aroused a lot of hope with the unions, giving them the opportunity, for the first time in more than two years, to renegotiate the decree reform of pensions which brought the starting age from 62 to 64 years in 2023, François Bayrou finally disappointed, causing cascades departures. The Prime Minister “broke the contract”, “changed the rules of the game” and “does not see where the problem is”, also denounced Marylise Léon Tuesday morning, the number one of the CFDT, on the set of BFMTV/RMC.
The suspended conclave, François Bayrou too?
This Thursday, March 20, only three trade union organizations (CFDT, CFTC, CFE-CGC) and two employers’ organizations (MEDEF and CPME) will thus be at the table of discussions from 2 pm to speak of “professional wear and arduousness”. But “with the (last) twists and turns, I’m afraid there is change,” Pascale Coton, negotiator for the CFTC, told AFP.
However, the Minister of Economy Eric Lombard has been confident about the outcome of the discussions. “I am convinced that it will succeed,” he said on TF1, even considering that “organizations that have moved away will be able to return to the table if this agreement suits them”. The Minister, who says hoping for the continuation of discussions between the social partners, recalled that the only mandate of the conclave is “to achieve balance (financial of the pension system) in 2030” and that “on age issues, their freedom is total”.
Nevertheless, this suspended from the conclave on pensions revives the opposition of the socialists on which François Bayrou counts to last in Matignon. The Prime Minister “makes a mistake” if he thinks that the socialists can no longer censor it, but they will wait to see the outcome of the conclave, warned the first secretary of PS Olivier Faure on Tuesday. “We have sanctuarized the budget, we have not sanctuarized the place of François Bayrou,” he said.