The unprecedented social mobilization experienced in France during the beginning of the year did not allow the pension reform to be evacuated from the debates, or even repealed. While the context remains tense on the issue, the French are now preparing, through simulators and situation studies, to retire later and see their working hours extended by two years. Despite this awareness, the September 1 deadline seems very close, while some decrees have still not been published. Is this date still possible or will the pension reform have to be postponed?
Since January, the country has been under pressure from the pension reform presented by the government of Elisabeth Borne and the prospect of seeing the associated system fundamentally changed. For the French, the pension reform signals not only an increase in the legal retirement age by two years, but also an increase in the duration of insurance to 43 annuities. For the generation that was to leave soon and leave professional life, it is therefore a blow and a difficult decision to accept.
It must be said that the French, the unions and the opposition will have tried everything to make this pension reform disappear between motions of censure, referendum of shared initiative or even attempted repeal in the National Assembly. However, nothing will have allowed the text to be withdrawn and future retirees to be able to maintain the initial conditions of their end of career. In the line of sight, it is now the deadline of September 1 that is emerging for all French people.
While the pension reform was adopted and then promulgated by Emmanuel Macron, it must now be implemented from September 1. However, even if the pension funds are preparing for this deadline, this prospect remains difficult to imagine in the face of all the decrees still missing at the present time.
Thus, decrees on the legal age of departure and long careers have just been published, but there are still unknowns on the accumulation of retirement employment, the minimum pension or the premium for mothers. The main beneficiaries are also waiting for details on the consideration of TUC (Collective utility works).
As Philippe Bainville of Retirement Insurance told our colleagues at Capital, pension funds claim to be ready for this deadline. He explained that the information systems were currently being updated to “allow the calculation and payment of the right amount of pensions for the people who are concerned”.
On the Agirc-Arrco side, the deadlines should also be maintained. However, the supplementary pension scheme must wait to obtain the decisions of the social partners for the rules put in place after the reform. Uncertainties still hang over the maintenance of the penalty, which penalizes employees leaving at the legal age of the full rate.
