French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has announced that the French government is proposing to extend the criteria that would facilitate early retirement to appease mass protests against her decision to raise the minimum retirement age to 64 by 2030.
In an interview with the ‘Journal du Dimanche’, Borne — who at the time declared his initial decision as «non-negotiable» — now proposes that those who started contributing between the ages of 20 and 21 could retire at 63, one year earlier than the minimum age.
The Government will start the debate on its proposal this coming Monday, a day before the new protests and strikes declared by the French unions.
«What we are looking for are agreements. I want to find a majority. That is what we have been working for months,» Borne told the Sunday newspaper.
Political legitimacy is essential for a government capable of passing this reform without the need for parliamentary approval. However, a «decree» would only further inflame the mood of the population, as Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has already stated last week.
Article 49.3 of the French Constitution, used up to seven times by the Executive to give the ‘green light’, among others, to the Social Security financing law, allows a bill to be passed without a vote.
Government estimates suggest that this new approach would affect some 30,000 people a year, at a cost of between 600 and 1 billion euros.
Borne, in this sense, has asked the National Assembly to start negotiating with the Government ways of financing this new measure with a view to the final objective of the reform: the elimination of the pension system deficit by 2030.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
