This is a turnaround that will undoubtedly reassure thousands of low-income retirees. Pensions will finally be increased by half of inflation from January 1, with a second catch-up for the smallest six months later, announced Laurent Wauquiez, president of the Republican Right group (ex-LR) in the Assembly, Monday November 11 on TF1. Faced with the spiraling public deficit, the government initially wanted to postpone the increase in basic retirement pensions by six months.
In the midst of a debate on the 2025 budget texts, the executive encountered an outcry from the unions and the opposition, but also from some of the supporters of the Prime Minister, Michel Barnier. Who is affected? How much will the measure cost? Why has the government changed its mind? Franceinfo answers four questions about this decision.
1 How much will pensions be increased in 2025?
The amount of pensions of the 14 million retirees affiliated to compulsory basic schemes, according to figures communicated last January by the service-public site, must be, according to the law, revalued on January 1 according to the amount of inflation . The government will waive this rule in 2025. “All pensions will probably be revalued by 0.9%, that is to say half of inflation – we will see exactly what the inflation estimate will be”declared the Minister of the Budget, Laurent Saint-Martin, on France 2, Tuesday. If these figures are confirmed, a pension of 1,500 euros would therefore be increased by 13.50 euros.
A second revaluation will then take place on July 1, 2025. However, it will only concern “pensions which are below the level of the minimum wage [soit 1 426,30 euros] so that there is no loss of purchasing power”according to the minister. “This concerns almost half of retirees, 44% to be exact”specified Michel Barnier before the National Assembly on Tuesday. They will benefit “a second lasting revaluation”which will correspond to half of inflation, as well as “compensation for the shortfall in the first half of next year”detailed the Prime Minister.
2 How much will this increase cost?
The government planned to save 4 billion euros in its 2025 budget by postponing the pension increase by six months. Ultimately, the saving will be less. “Depending on the reality of inflation, this may vary and we will actually be between 500 and 800 million euros returned to small pensions”reducing the hoped-for savings to 3 billion euros, said Laurent Saint-Martin. To finance this revaluation, Laurent Wauquiez proposes to seek “a billion” in the rationalization of “bureaucracy administrative”in particular by merging certain organizations such as France Stratégie, the High Commission for Planning, France 2030 and the Center for Prospective Studies.
3 Why has the government changed its mind?
The members of the government initially defended their decision by invoking a sharing of the budgetary effort between retirees and workers. “We We must all make an effort and roll up our sleeves.” to restore public accounts, the Prime Minister estimated at the beginning of October in an interview with La Tribune Sunday. Michel Barnier judged that the postponement of the revaluation of pensions represented a “reasonable effort, which translates[sait] this collective, shared effort”. Arguments which did not convince the oppositions. The LFI deputy and president of the finance committee in the Assembly, Eric Coquerel, denounced on franceinfo a “unjust measure” who asked “retirees to pay for all the tax gifts that have been given to the richest”. The boss of the National Rally deputies, Marine Le Pen, had even accused the government of “stealing billions of euros of purchasing power from our elders”on X.
The proposal had been criticized even in the ranks of the deputies of the “common base” which supports the Barnier government. Laurent Wauquiez had thus expressed his skepticism to the head of government, although he also comes from the Republicans. A feeling shared by the deputies of the former presidential majority. “We are against the frost”summed up an influential Macronist deputy to France Télévisions at the end of October. Enough to force the different components of the government coalition to negotiate with each other on this subject.
4 Why is this change of heart straining the ruling coalition?
The announcement of the abandonment of the measure by the boss of the LR deputies, and not by the Minister of the Economy or the Budget, raised eyebrows among many Macronist elected officials. “It wasn’t up to Laurent Wauquiez to announce it”lamented on franceinfo Mathieu Lefèvre, Ensemble pour la République (EPR) deputy for Val-de-Marne. “I thought that the government governed and Parliament parliamented”he castigated. In response, Laurent Saint-Martin assured France 2 that he knew that this announcement would be made by the former president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. “We also need to further demonstrate that the evolution of this text comes from compromises between the government and parliamentarians from the majority base”he added.
The episode is above all a revealer of the tensions between the different components of the coalition, a minority in the National Assembly, which supports Michel Barnier. “It obviously grates… and we find it quite pitiful, but there is no desire to sink into one-upmanship”reports a MoDem deputy to franceinfo, while an EPR elected representative expresses an atmosphere “gloomy and worried” from France Télévisions. Enough to further fracture the ruling alliance. “We are quite clear-minded about the reality of the common base around which we put a little more quotation marks every week,” assured Gabriel Attal during a meeting of the EPR group on Tuesday, a participant confirmed to franceinfo.
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