Retirement at 64: Emmanuel Macron’s compromise

On Wednesday, October 26, President Emmanuel Macron spoke on the set of France 2. He notably returned to one of the key subjects of his five-year term: his decried pension reform. He announces the color quickly: he thinks we will have to work longer anyway. He justified this need by the need to finance the anti-expensive measures that have been put in place in the face of the energy crisis and the loss of purchasing power of the French in recent times.

The goal he gave during the presidential campaign was to increase the legal retirement age by 4 months per year from summer 2023, until reaching a retirement age of 65 in 2031.

The President maintained that he wanted to adjust the social systems in place for “long careers”, that is to say those who started working before their 20s, and trades with arduous work. These two categories of workers would therefore continue to be able to leave earlier.

Last Wednesday evening Emmanuel Macron reiterated an appeal to his opponents: he said he was ready to raise the legal age of departure only up to 64 years old. However, the contribution period necessary to receive a full pension would then be increased, leading to a double pension reform, as Le Figaro reports.

Currently, it is necessary to attest to a little more than 41.5 annuities to receive a full pension. These annuities would therefore be programmed to increase to 43 in 2032.

The typical case will therefore be, for someone who started working after the age of 20, and who does not have a job corresponding to the hardship criteria, to work 2 years longer than today, and to contribute for a year and a half more.

According to Le Figaro, this proposal has no chance of succeeding, and would even potentially lead to a popular and social uprising. Indeed, various trade union groups, as well as the CFDT, reject all attempts to raise the legal retirement age and any increase in the contribution period.

Emmanuel Macron’s false attempt at compromise could encourage certain groups to follow the CGT’s approach and therefore to adopt an empty chair policy at the negotiating table. In a context that sees a trade union as strong as ever since 2010, the opposition will be heard!

Especially since the French, according to Le Figaro, overwhelmingly agree on one thing: they do not want to work more and are ready to take to the streets to make their voices heard. A “guarantee of mobilization”, in the form of strikes in particular, gives strength and weight to trade union groups in negotiations with the Executive.