Backpedaling to the top of the state. The idea of making certain retirees contribute to finance social protection, mentioned the day before by Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, is “not the government’s position at this stage”, the spokesperson for the government wanted to reassure this Wednesday, January 22. executive Sophie Primas. On the set of TF1 Tuesday morning, the Minister of Labor proposed to involve certain retirees, at least those “who could afford it”. Cautiously, this former socialist had put forward a figure: “It could be 40%” of retirees “depending on the pension level”.
If Matignon was quick to point out that it was “a personal position” of the minister, the proposal nonetheless provoked an outcry from right and left. “I find it scandalous from a democratic point of view,” reacted LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard on BFMTV. If LFI is in favor of “a tax reform so that the wealthy contribute more”, “trying to make people believe that it is a measure of tax justice to go after retirees who earn 2,000 euros per month, that seems really very dishonest to me,” he judged.
Same position at the other end of the political spectrum. This subject is “becoming a red line”, the vice-president of the RN, Sébastien Chenu, warned this Wednesday morning on TF1, considering that taxation would be equivalent to a “spoliation” of the “fruit of labor “retirees. For the far-right MP, “taxing retirees who receive 2,000 euros of pension” is “totally scandalous”. And to take the opportunity to raise the threat of a motion of censure from the government: “If there is that in the budget […] I am in favor of not allowing this to pass.” Michel Barnier’s desire to call into question the general indexation of pensions to inflation on January 1 had been put forward for the RN to justify the censorship which brought down the government.
“Unacceptable”
Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet’s proposal also aroused strong opposition among government supporters. The vice-president of Horizons Christian Estrosi deemed it “inadmissible” on RTL. “For all retirees, it’s the same rule. Because if we start to touch a retirement level, the door is open and little by little we will abuse it and go towards the weakest pensioners,” continued the mayor of Nice, a city popular with many seniors. “When I was a parliamentarian, I tabled a bill to say that the day you retire, you will never again be able to grant you a pension that is less than the first pension you will receive,” a- he added.
Guest of “4 Truths” this Wednesday, Michel-Édouard Leclerc, president of the strategic committee of E. Leclerc stores, also added a layer: “I don’t think it’s a good solution to make retirees pay, who have already paid for their pensions. I don’t think it’s a good solution to indict even wealthier categories.” Before adding: “And then that doesn’t solve the problem that we have and that we will have by 2030-2040.”
“Polyphony” rather than “cacophony”
A small consolation prize for Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet: the proposal was defended by the boss of Medef for whom “everyone must participate in the war effort” to reduce the deficits. Patrick Martin declared on BFMTV on Monday: “Why not, temporarily in a targeted manner and by protecting small pensions.”
The government spokesperson also ruled out this Wednesday the possibility of seven additional hours of unpaid work per year to finance social protection, put forward by the Minister of Solidarity Catherine Vautrin, and which is also not “at this stage the government’s official position. Sophie Primas relied on the ongoing “parliamentary discussions” on the budgets for 2025, but refused to consider these confusions as the expression of a “cacophony” within the government team: “In the word cacophony, I prefer polyphony,” she retorted. “The government is made up of people who are experienced people […] Everyone therefore has solutions, possibilities, hypotheses in mind. And so the Prime Minister draws on this experience, draws on the provisions that everyone can provide. In the end, it is the Prime Minister and Parliament who will decide,” she added.