There will therefore be no “forced passage” on this highly inflammable subject, as was feared even within the majority as a day of strikes and demonstrations looms on Thursday, the first of the fall, concerning wages but also presented as a warning shot on pensions.
At the end of a dinner at the Elysée around Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday evening bringing together the executives of the macronie, prevailed “the choice of dialogue and consultation”, declared the Prime Minister, detailing a relatively flexible, but also clinging to the presidential promise of an application of the reform in the summer of 2023.
The head of government wishes to present “an assessment” of these discussions with the social partners and political forces “before Christmas”, thus leaving almost three months of potential talks around a reform already in the making during the previous five-year term, before being interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
And “we favor the inclusion of this reform in a bill which should be voted on before the end of winter, for the entry into force of the reform in the summer of 2023”, she added.
In this perspective, Ms Borne asked the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt “to start negotiations next week” with employers’ organizations and trade unions, as well as with “parliamentary groups”.
On the menu of consultations are the “long career system”, taking into account “those who have had difficult jobs”, “prevention of wear and tear at work”, “subjects of end-of-career development, and transition between employment and retirement”, “the employment of seniors and the fight against discrimination of which seniors may be victims”, “special regimes”, “the revaluation (to 1,100 euros, Editor’s note) of the minimum pension for people who have had a full career” and, “in general, the adaptation of the parameters to ensure the financial balance of the system”, detailed the Prime Minister.
– Procrastination and divisions –
This decision, which is based on “total convergence between the different components of the majority” according to Ms. Borne, puts an end to several days of procrastination and divisions on how to initiate this pension reform, which provides in particular for a “progressive postponement from the starting age of 4 months per year, culminating in 65 years in 2031”, recalled Ms. Borne.
If “the framework of this reform had been clearly laid down in the presidential campaign and had also been reaffirmed”, according to Ms. Borne, the method was debated: is it necessary a simple amendment to the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS) examined in October at the Assembly, the most controversial track and which had notably pointed the ally of the Modem? A passage through a corrective PLFSS in January? Or an ad hoc bill?
This last option therefore seems to be favored at this stage by the executive… provided that it manages to open the consultations, while the unions and a large part of the political opposition are upwind against the very substance of this reform.
“There are important subjects on which we wish to open the discussion and therefore we place ourselves in a hypothesis where we can carry out a consultation”, underlined Ms. Borne, while refusing however to definitively rule out the possibility of an amendment. at the PLFSS.
A dedicated bill also presents a major risk for the executive, which only has a relative majority in the Assembly.
He could force him to draw Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows the adoption of a text without a vote except for a motion of censure, but it can only be used once per parliamentary session. On the other hand, it is possible to fire at will with this weapon on the budgetary texts, which are therefore the PLFSS.
More generally, Ms. Borne intends to “take advantage of the coming weeks to properly restate the stakes” of the reform. “Because we haven’t been talking about the issues for a while now, but about the method,” she lamented.
