SPECIAL REGIMES. The pension reform plans to abolish several special schemes. What about parliamentarians? All the details on this highly contested aspect of the reform project.
[Mis à jour le 3 février 2022 à 16h21] The pension reform project plans to abolish a large number of special schemes, the main feature of which is to benefit from early retirement. The regimes of the RATP, the Banque de France, or even the electricity and gas industries will, for example, be abolished. Conversely, those of the Paris Opera, the Comédie Française, the fishermen and the lawyers and liberal professions will continue in the event of the entry into force of the pension reform in the summer of 2023. But for a few days , and the speech of the centrist deputy of the Marne Charles de Courson, the debate refocuses on the advantages perceived by the deputies and senators. “Why would we maintain the special regime for parliamentarians?” he said during the examination of the text, Wednesday, February 1.
In reality, it is not up to the government to decide whether or not to abolish the special regime for parliamentarians. Regarding their new starting age with the reform, only the respective offices of the Senate and the National Assembly can decide on changes to the pension plans of parliamentarians. It is therefore not possible to imagine a mechanical repercussion of the pension reform on the system of parliamentarians. Since the Woerth reform in 2010, the retirement age for parliamentarians has been reduced from 60 to 62 years old. In fact, the latter leave rather between 65 and 70 years old. As a reminder, the abolition of special diets will be subject to the grandfather clause. Clearly, it will only concern new hires. Employees already in office will retain their benefits.
The majority of special schemes allowing people to leave before the legal retirement age will disappear with the pension reform, from 1 September 2023. RATPthe branches of the gas industries (IEG), THE Clerics And employees of notariesthe staff of the Bank of France and members of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Cese) will therefore see their special plans extinguished for new employees. On the other hand, the autonomous schemes which concern lawyers, the schemes for sailors, that of the Paris Opera and the Comédie Française will not be affected by this novelty relating to the pension reform.
Be aware that the shift in the legal retirement age will indeed affect workers in special schemes, in the same way as the extension of the contribution period. On the other hand, civil servants will still be able to benefit from a more advantageous method of calculation. In their case, the calculation of the retirement is established on the last six months of career, and not on the 25 best years.
The special regimes complete the list of Social Security regimes. These schemes are attached to a company, a public institution, or a profession. There are three main categories: the regime of the public function (national police, military), the regimes of businesses and public bodies (EDF, RATP, SNCF). And finally, the special regimes such as those of the Comédie Française, the Paris Opera, the Notary Clerks, or the Banque de France). In France, 15 special schemes exist, which represents 4.7 million contributors. Here is the complete list of special diets:
- The civil servants’ regime
- The regime of the Banque de France
- The RATP system
- The SNCF scheme
- The mining regime
- The regime for staff at the Opéra National de Paris
- The regime of the Comédie Française
- The regime of the Autonomous Port of Bordeaux
- The regime for sailors with the National Establishment of Naval Invalids
- The Regime of Cults
- Regime for Clerks and Notary Employees
- The parliamentary system of the Senate with the independent Social Security fund of the Senate
- The parliamentary system of the National Assembly
- The EDF-GDF scheme for the Electricity and Gas Industries
- The scheme for workers in State industrial establishments and the scheme for local government officials
On September 1, 2023, if the pension reform comes into force, several special schemes will disappear. But in reality, this deletion only concerns new hires. Current employees will retain this famous special regime. This is called: the grandfather clause.