“We must make this reform”, he declared on TF1, because “if we do not do it, we leave the pay-as-you-go pension system in danger”.
“All the serious studies show it: the financing needs are massive and will continue to increase in the coming years”, he insisted, “so the only lever we have is to work longer” .
The head of state had defended during the presidential campaign a postponement of the legal age from 62 to 65, before mentioning once re-elected a decline to 64, coupled with an increase in the contribution period. A measure justified by the prospect of a lasting return to deficits, which would exceed 12 billion euros at the end of the five-year term, and by its refusal in principle to increase contributions or trim pensions for retirees.
“It is an essential reform, but it must be both effective, to save the pay-as-you-go system, and it must be fair,” he defended, calling on unions and employers “ to enrich it (and) to amend it” within the framework of the “negotiation” in progress with the government
Without revealing the final arbitrations of the executive, which Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne will present around December 15, the President of the Republic nevertheless underlined that “when we compare France with all its neighbors, we have room, because ‘we are not the country with the longest legal age or contribution period’.