François Hollande on May 7, 2022 at the Elysée Palace – GONZALO FUENTES / POOL / AFP
The government text comes “at the wrong time” and is not “fair”, according to the former President of the Republic.
For François Hollande, a pension reform must “conform to both[re] into an “emergency situation” and being “fair” in order to be “accepted”. Regarding the executive’s project, however, these “two conditions are not met,” says the former President of the Republic at the France Inter microphone.
In particular, the government wants to raise the legal age from 62 to 64 and speed up the Touraine reform, carried out during François Hollande’s five-year tenure, to set the contribution period at 43 years from 2027.
“Bad time”
François Hollande acknowledges that a deficit “needs to be corrected” that will be “10, 15, 20 billion within 5 or 10 years”. “But is this the best time,” he asks, recalling the current context between “high inflation, an energy crisis, a possible recession.” [et] the war in Ukraine”. And to add: “You will tell me, there is no good moment, but there are bad ones, this is a bad moment”.
Then the socialist judges that for a “just reform” it would be necessary that “everyone can contribute an equal duration in relation to what his activity has been”. “But that’s not the case,” he says, because “people, especially the humblest, will be forced to contribute at 44,” while others “will only be 42 or 43.”
“The effort is not distributed”
For its part, the government defends the “justice” of its text, for example by promoting small pensions, making allowances for long careers or making adjustments to take account of arduousness.
However, according to François Hollande, “the effort is not distributed”. “Why is nothing done for seniors?” he asks, even though the government plans to create an index to measure trends in senior recruitment and employment in the company. This “goes[-t-il] create real obligations, sanction? No,” regrets François Hollande.
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Work by seniors, contribution time at 43 for everyone and extra income
He asks another question to better criticize the government’s position:
“Were the largest fortunes, the largest incomes, required to finance the solidarity measures required as part of a pension reform?”
According to the former First Secretary of the PS, we need to act on three points: “Create much stronger incentives”, “Work for seniors”, “Ask for an extension of the contribution period”. [à 43 ans] for everyone” and make “additional recipes”.
On this last point, François Hollande speaks of an “increase in social security contributions, both for employers and employees” and “a tax on wealth and high incomes”.
In line with the Touraine reform, François Hollande is against deferring the age of majority.
Original article published on BFMTV.com
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