The pension reform is a “left-wing reform that could have been carried out by a social-democratic government”: “Compared to previous reforms, it creates rights that we did not know about, in particular on hardship and carers. In an interview with “Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France”, Olivier Dussopt steps up to defend the controversial government project, at a time when senators are examining the text and when pressure is mounting in the streets and businesses before the mobilization of Tuesday.
“The last reform carried out by the left increased the contribution period, which constitutes a machine for small pensions”, he criticized, while the minister, who came from the ranks of the PS, was asked about the most important measure. contested reform, the postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years. “There will be no losers. Because the pensions will not go down. The reform requires efforts from the French. That yes. But we make sure that they are distributed as fairly as possible. »
Fiscal balance
Olivier Dussopt also ensures that the budgetary balance of the reform is not threatened by the various accompanying measures voted or in the process of adoption in Parliament to obtain in particular the support of elected LR.
“Even if we had a slight deficit of 300 or 400 million euros in 2030, as is the case in the current state of the reform, it is not comparable with a deficit of 13.5 billion euros. euros,” he said.
The Senate considers special diets
These statements come as the Senate began, on Saturday, the examination of one of the most disputed points of the pension reform, the abolition of special schemes. The left defended in vain a motion to refer back to committee, then amendments to delete Article 1 of the government bill, devoted to the gradual extinction of five special regimes: electricity and gas industries, RATP, Banque de France, clerks and notary employees, members of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council.
It is thus planned that agents recruited from September 2023 will be affiliated to the common law scheme for old-age insurance. The leader of the LR senators, Bruno Retailleau, wants these special schemes to also be abolished for current employees, but his proposal will be examined later. The government is against, and its amendment could be rejected, for lack of support from the centrists.
For the left, the end of special regimes is “an ideological and demagogic proposal”, which will not generate financial gain. Firmly but calmly (unlike the debates in the National Assembly), the senators on the left have engaged in a long battle on this article 1, which will continue in the evening, even on Sunday.
Decline in electricity production
Electricians and gas workers, affected by this disappearance of their regime, began a renewable strike on Friday. It leads to reductions in electricity production in several nuclear power plants, the equivalent of five reactors, without causing cuts for customers.
“If Emmanuel Macron does not want a France at a standstill and a black week in energy, it would be better for him to withdraw his reform”, warned Sébastien Ménesplier, secretary general of the CGT Energie. “We will be capable of anything,” warned Fabrice Coudour, Federal Secretary.
On tour in Africa, the head of state said on Saturday that he had “not much new to say”. Gabriel Attal raised his voice against the unions: it is “the French that they will block” and “the workers that they will bring to their knees”, declared the Minister of Public Accounts, on the sidelines of a visit to the Salon de l’Agriculture, calling on opponents of the reform to “responsibility”.
Details on the future jobs bill
Olivier Dussopt also unveiled one of the measures of a future employment bill planned for the summer: the registration of RSA recipients at Pole Emploi. “In particular, I would like, except in the case of health-related exceptions, for example, RSA applicants to be automatically registered with Pôle Emploi. Currently, only 40% of them are,” he told Le Parisien.