“Postponing the legal age and accelerating the increase in the contribution period is a double penalty”, according to the mayor of Dijon, yet support of Emmanuel Macron.
The days pass and the macronie orchestra plays less and less in unison on the pension reform. The dissonance comes this time from an ally of the President of the Republic: François Rebsamen, Mayor of Dijon. In the columns of Figarothe ex-socialist, who had supported Emmanuel Macron during the last presidential election, made known his disagreements with the executive’s project.
“I request the withdrawal of the legal age, in favor of the sole acceleration of the contribution period”, declares the city councilor.
In the current government draft, there are plans to raise the legal age from 62 to 64 by 2030; and to accelerate the pace of the Touraine reform to extend the contribution period from 42 to 43 years by 2027.
The government “must not fracture the country”
“Postponing the legal age and accelerating the increase in the contribution period is a double penalty! It’s too brutal”, according to François Rebsamen. The former Minister of Labor under François Hollande’s five-year term recognizes “many advances”, “for small pensions increased to a minimum of 1200 euros, for workers with long careers, for women with chopped careers, for people with disabilities”, but he warns the executive with regard to the current context.
“He must not fracture the country, already shaken by the exit from Covid, inflation, the change in the relationship to work and the shock of the war in Ukraine.”
Admittedly, the founder of the Progressive Federation – which brings together former members of the Socialist Party and whose members had applied under the Together banner during the legislative elections – supported a president whose program already provided for postponing the legal age. But, he defends himself, “the proposal was not precise” and his “support was not worth a blank check”.
“Efforts must be better shared”
The mayor of Dijon wants to “change practices” and in particular introduce an “annual review clause”. “Each year, the government and the reformist unions should find a consensus to adjust the contribution period. This would avoid many social dramas,” he argues.
Moreover, François Rebsamen considers that “the efforts must be better shared”. How? “By ending exemptions from contributions, for salaries between 1.6 and 3.5 of the Smic” and “by returning to the abolition of the contribution on the added value of companies (CVAE)”. The operation would bring together around 8 billion euros according to his calculations. It also proposes a “slight increase in the CRDS, which affects capital income, and the CSG, for the highest pensions.”
For now, the government has shown its firmness, repeating that it does not want to raise taxes. “I do not share the whole philosophy of the government”, underlines François Rebsamen in Le Figaro. He is not the only one: several deputies of the majority, including in particular the former minister Barbara Pompili, have made it known that they would not vote for the pension reform as it stands.
