French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne presented the government’s particularly controversial pension reform project on Tuesday.
Among the key measures of the project presented, the retirement age is increased from 62 to 64, special schemes will be abolished and the minimum pension will be increased to €1,200 per month for all.
“We must be able to look reality in the face and find solutions to preserve our social model”, said Ms. Borne during the press conference dedicated to the presentation of the project, noting that the objective of this project is to guarantee the balance of the system by 2030.
Thus, the legal age from which it will be possible to retire in France will be gradually raised from 62 to 64, at the rate of three months per year of birth.
“As of September 1, the legal retirement age will be gradually raised by three months per year to reach 64 in 2030,” Borne explained. It will thus be set at 63 years and 3 months in 2027 at the end of the five-year term, then will reach the target of 64 years in 2030.
This postponement of the retirement age will be associated with an acceleration of the calendar for extending the duration of contributions. It will be necessary to have contributed 43 years from 2027 instead of 2035 for a retirement at full rate. “We will maintain at 67 the age at which people can retire without a discount, regardless of their contribution period,” she said.
“The second pillar of our project is justice. We are going to keep and improve the so-called long career system, ”said the Prime Minister.
In 2030, those who started working before the age of 16 will be able to leave from the age of 58, those who started between the ages of 16 and 18 from the age of 60 and those between the ages of 18 and 20 from the age of 62, specified the head of government. . The military and civil servants, including firefighters and nursing aides in the public hospital service, “will be able to continue to leave earlier”.
“A full rate departure at age 62 will be maintained for people with disabilities, incapacity or incapacity,” she also added.
The head of government also announced the end of special diets. “We are going to close most of the existing special pension schemes for new hires”, announced Ms. Borne, referring to “a fairness measure”.
“The special regimes have become archaic as the reality of the trades has evolved and thus the special regimes have also become progressively more unfair”, lamented, for his part, the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt.
“The special schemes for pension insurance will be closed for new hires only, starting September 1, 2023,” he added.
Another long-awaited announcement, that of the minimum pension. “A life of work must guarantee a dignified retirement”, affirmed Elisabeth Borne. In the new reform, people who have worked at the SMIC all their life “will now leave with a pension of 85% of the net SMIC”, or nearly €1,200 per month.
This government project will be presented to the Council of Ministers on January 23, before being examined by the National Assembly and the Senate from the beginning of February.