Faced with the government’s plan to reform the pension systems, the opposition parties have all formulated counter-proposals.
A pension reform “vital and essential” for some, “unfair and brutal for others”. It goes without saying that the bill defended by Emmanuel Macron since his re-election divides the political class, it even has the effect of an earthquake with the opposition. The presidential majority can only count on the Republican party, which has been in favor for years of postponing the legal retirement age, to vote with it for the adoption of the reform. Opposite, all the political forces want to oppose the entry into force of the text which they consider unbalanced and too radical. What do they blame for the pension reform and what do they propose instead?
LR ready to vote on pension reform under conditions
With the pension reform, the Republican party sees an opportunity to pass measures it has been advocating for years. Already in 2010, the postponement of the retirement age from 60 to 62 came from them and for several years, the Senate has voted systematically to postpone retirement for another two years. It therefore seems obvious that the traditional right supports the government’s project, at least on the main lines. But the Republicans know that their votes are essential for the majority to adopt the reform without going through 49.3 and arouse the anger of the French by a forced passage. Thus, they intend to play to their trump card to push the executive to concessions and reshape the pension reform to their liking. During negotiations with the Prime Minister, Eric Ciotti, Olivier Marleix and Bruno Retailleau – respectively LR president, and LR group leaders in the Assembly and the Senate – tried to impose their ideas, in particular the revaluation of “small pensions at the level du Smic” where the government provides for a minimum pension equivalent to 85% of the Smic.
LR also campaigns for the end of special regimes, judging that for a fair reform, all workers must be housed in the same boat. A point towards which the presidential majority also converges.
On the left, the Nupes unanimously against the pension reform
The pension reform revolts the political parties of the left. All castigate in turn a text “brutal”, “deeply unfair”, “cruel” or even “archaic” the day after its presentation by Elisabeth Borne, on January 10. The four constituent political parties of the Nupes have also indicated that they are taking part in the day of mobilization against the reform initiated by the union of trade unions on 19 January. Some, like the elected representatives of LFI, even plan to organize their own protest movement.
- Insubordinate France (LFI) : the mentor of LFI, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, describes Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform as “serious social regression” and in its wake the elected representatives of the radical left denounce the “brutality” of the measure. The party defends a completely different management of pensions and wishes to lower the legal retirement age earlier with a return to 60 years rather than a postponement to 64 years. Behind this position the argument of the former deputy according to which “to live longer in dignified and healthy conditions, it is necessary to be able to stop working sufficiently early”. In addition to lowering the retirement age, the rebellious would like to lower the number of annuities from 43 to 40. Finally, according to him, it would be necessary to revalue the amount of retirement pensions at the level of the minimum wage, i.e. 1200 euros, and index salary pensions. This is a costly policy estimated at more than 70 billion euros per year which would be, still according to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, financed by the increase in the rate of old-age contribution and new contributions taken from “income from profit-sharing, participation, employee savings, as well as the financial income of companies”.
- The Socialist Party (PS) : the socialists who defended the status quo on the question of the retirement age at 62 aligned themselves with the return to 60 when the Nupes agreements were signed before the legislative elections of 2021. In one case as in the other, they oppose delaying retirement beyond age 62. As for the amount of pensions, there again many elected officials vote for a revaluation of pensions at the level of the minimum wage.
- Europe-ecology-The Greens (EELV) : on the question of pensions, ecologists agree on the retirement age and the amount of pensions. These elected officials also attach importance to taking hardship into account so that certain workers can stagger their retirement from the age of 55, in particular by broadening the criteria of hardship with the addition of four criteria removed by Emmanuel Macron in 2017 , which the same man now wants to reintegrate into the calculation, and additional factors.
- The French Communist Party (PCF) : the vision of the pensions for the communists it is the departure at 60 years and with full rate. A position diametrically opposed to that of Emmanuel Macron and justified by the analysis made by the CPF in 2021: “Pension expenditure has been revised downwards, […] studies indicate that today they are around 13.7%. The nuance (-0.3) is important, especially since the trajectories indicate that the share of pensions in GDP will continue to decline in the years to come.
The RN decided to unite against the pension reform
If the left is united and calls for “joining the inter-union” to fight the pension reform, it is not the only one. On the other side of the political spectrum, on the far right, the National Rally is also fiercely opposed to the government’s vision. On the age side, Marine Le Pen’s project consists of leaving the retirement age at 62 and allowing a “gradual” departure from the age of 60 for workers who started working before the age of 20. A project which costs 9.6 billion euros according to the boss of the RN and which could be financed largely by savings on expenses linked to unemployment insurance and health insurance. But after verification of the calculations by the Institut Montaigne, the cost of this measure is rather estimated at 26 billion euros.