Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced in the Journal du Dimanche on February 5 that people who started working between the ages of 20 and 21 will be able to retire at 63, not 64, taking a step in the direction of deputies. of the Les Républicains (LR) party.
"We hear" the request of right-wing elected officials, she added, before the start of the debates before the National Assembly on Monday.
The votes of LR deputies are essential to pass the reform. They upped the ante and have been pleading for days to avoid "those who started working the earliest having to contribute the longest," according to party chairman Eric Ciotti. A green light to their proposal on long careers "will make it possible to win a very large majority in the LR group", he assured the Parisian.
“It is a measure that will cost between 600 million and 1 billion euros per year, and which will affect up to 30,000 people per year”, underlines Elisabeth Borne. And to add: "As we carry out this reform to ensure the balance of the system by 2030, we will have to find ways of financing. »
An ad that struggles to convince
A measure considered insufficient for certain figures on the right, such as the LR deputy for Pas-de-Calais Pierre-Henri Dumont, who wants "all those" who started contributing before the age of 21 to be concerned. Unthinkable, for the head of government, given the cost estimated at 10 billion euros and the impossibility of including, for example, those who had had a simple summer job before the age of 21.
The party's executive vice-president, Aurélien Pradié, sees in Elisabeth Borne's gesture "a deception that respects neither Les Républicains nor les Français". “How could a worker starting at 20 complete five terms before turning 21 as required by the long career scheme? “, he wondered in a tweet.
Xavier Bertrand, for his part, underlines a "sham answer", insisting on the principle of respecting "the 43 annuities". "For me, this is the first of the conditions for the reform to become more acceptable," he told BFM-TV. And, in a way, Ms. Borne closes the door to all LR deputies (…). »
On the union side, Laurent Berger judges that this announcement by the Prime Minister on long careers is only a "patch", which does "not respond to the concern which is that of (…) million workers". "We see in the thread of the interview that [only] 30,000 people [are affected by this measure]", says the secretary general of the CFDT. "The basic problem of this reform is the postponement of the legal age to 64, which accentuates the inequalities inherent in the world of work", insisted the guest of "Political Questions".
Mid-term progress report
Currently, starting a career before the age of 20 can allow for a two-year early retirement, and entering the workforce before the age of 16 can entitle you to a four-year early retirement. The reform project provides that this system will be "adapted": those who started before the age of 20 will be able to leave two years earlier, i.e. 62; those who started before 18 can leave at 60, and so on.
The Prime Minister also affirms that she has "no objection" to another request from elected LRs, also brought by the MoDem group to the National Assembly, it would be a question of "taking stock of 'mid-term stage of the reform', in 2027. That year, 'there is a presidential election and legislative elections', which 'is already a form of review clause', she notes .
While two new days of mobilization against the reform are planned, on February 7 and 11, Elisabeth Borne says she understands that raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 "causes reactions, reluctance and worries". "But our goal is to ensure the future of our pay-as-you-go system," she insists, saying "regret that some, especially on the left, have misunderstandings."
In response to CFDT secretary general Laurent Berger, who accused her Thursday evening of lacking "empathy", the Matignon tenant said that "it's hurtful, and it's the opposite of who I am and what I'm wearing." What if the reform ultimately doesn't pass? "I don't make that assumption. I am looking for the way”, explains Elisabeth Borne.
