Posted 20 Feb. 2023 at 6:04
The parliamentary obstruction did not prevent the government and its majority from adjusting the firing on the pension reform at the last moment. On the same day that the debates ended in noise and confusion in the Assembly, the executive, as well as the majority groups Renaissance, Horizons and Modem, tabled amendments on long careers and women.
Only the first articles of the bill having been examined, these adjustments have not been formally recorded. They aim to calm the debates with the group Les Républicains and prepare the ground for the continuation of the parliamentary debates in the Senate, where the right dominates. “As we might not discuss the text until the end, we are forced to open doors”, explains the deputy Horizons, Paul Christophe.
Convergence of views
After weeks of negotiations with Les Républicains (LR), divided on the question of long careers, a convergence of views emerged on Friday between LR, the executive and the majority.
They all ended up tabling an amendment providing that a person who entered working life young, and who reaches the early retirement age to which he is entitled, can leave at the full rate following having contributed at age 43 (the contribution period required for the most French).
The government had dropped ballast in this direction, a few days earlier when it had initially planned to ask long careers to contribute 44 years (to leave at 58 and 60). In fact, however, many insured will contribute a little more than 43 years. An employee who started at 16 years and six months would have to contribute 43 and a half years, to retire at 60 years old.
“It’s a clarifying amendment, which sets the issue of 172 quarters in stone for retirement,” said Paul Christophe, whose Horizons group had hitherto remained discreet on the issue of long careers.
The government, the Modem and the Horizons group also tabled an amendment on women’s pensions on Friday. A sensitive subject when critics of the reform accuse it precisely of placing most of the effort on women.
Recovering from an injustice
The amendment, of which the Modem claims paternity, aims to improve the pension of certain women who have had children. “It is the remediation of an injustice”, defends the Modem deputy, Philippe Vigier stressing that the measure would benefit women who have had low salaries.
In detail, the amendment specifies that the daily allowances paid to women during their maternity leave will always be taken into account in the reference salary used to calculate the level of pension (maternity leave also already makes it possible to validate quarters) .
Point of attention in the Senate
This consideration of allowances has been provided for since the 2010 pension reform for women who had children in 2012 and following. The idea is to apply the same principle for women who had children before 2012.
In the absence of information on the amount of daily allowances at the time, the calculation of the pension might take into account a “lump sum”. The measure might cost a hundred million euros in the first year, suggests Philippe Vigier, referring to a pension increase of around 20 euros for a mother of a child who has had a salary at the minimum wage all her life.
The government does not communicate figures, knowing that the taking into account of these daily allowances will not necessarily be automatic, the pensions being calculated on the annual income of the 25 best years. The retirement of women will in any case be one of the points of attention of the senatorial majority.
