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From 2024, we will remember (among other things, of course) government censorship. It is a political decision as historic as it is rich in consequences. Concretely, this means that the announcements relating to the 2025 Budget, as formulated by the government, will not materialize. News that suits retirees.
Clearly, the government's communications plan has not borne fruit. An alarmist tone was heard in the mainstream media. Michel Barnier and others said how catastrophic such censorship would be for the country. But, by passing his budget for 2025 via article 49.3 of the Constitution, the former Prime Minister gave up on his work.
Pensions: the waltz of revaluations
Censorship therefore eliminates the last hopes of Michel Barnier's government. It is appropriate to return to the previous proposals. In order to save money, Michel Barnier had considered freezing the revaluation of retirement pensions, postponing it to July 2025 instead of January, as stipulated in the legislation.. This initiative aroused strong opposition among parliamentarians.
Therefore, together, a compromise emerges from the debates. Thus, the government finally opts for a revaluation in January, but with an amount reduced by half compared to initial forecasts.
To have
Taxes, pensions, social plans…: an end of year in danger? What to expect
In order not to arouse the anger of the most vulnerable, the government opted for another increase in July. And that's not all, he also proposed a catch-up for the six months of absence of increase. On the other hand, all other retirees would have received only one very modest increase.
A complete revaluation from January for retirees
Finally, in January, this government will not see the light of day. Censorship playing spoilsport, this story of two revaluations falls into oblivion. Thus, despite the uncertainties, retirement pensions will see an effective increase from January 1, 2025.
The good news is that this increase will be what the law provides. Indeed, it will be 2.2%. This automatic adjustment takes into account the evolution of inflation over the last twelve months.
This increase obviously changes the situation for retirees. It guarantees that they will not lose purchasing power in 2025 and that they will not start the year 2026 with a delay which could have proved problematic.
However, although this revaluation is positive, it does not entirely meet the expectations of the unions. The latter are calling for pensions to be indexed to salaries rather than to inflation. According to them, such a mechanism would make it possible to better maintain the purchasing power of retirees in the face of the increase in the cost of living.
To have
Increase in pensions, tax, CSG: these key changes to be expected from January 1
Soon a new budget
Although this revaluation ensures a certain stability for 2025, it does not entirely shed light on the future of pension financing. Unions, like the CGT and the CFDT, always insist on the need to rethink the indexation model. Indeed, they emphasize that the current link with inflation is not enough to guarantee lasting purchasing power for retirees.
The government will therefore have to develop a new budget that manages to rally a majority of deputies to its project. Otherwise, this could constitute a new political setback for Emmanuel Macron. François Bayrou, the Prime Minister, knows that several major missions await him.
To protect public accounts, are they preparing to attack retirees too? This would seem unwise. But, from the start of 2025, he will have to present a Budget to deputies. In the meantime, anything is possible.
