Not immediately but quickly: this is the position of the National Rally on the repeal of the pension reform. If, of course, the party with the flame wins the early legislative elections, the second round of which will take place on July 7. She “will be repealed in the fall, after consultation with social and economic partners”declared the outgoing deputy for the Somme, Philippe Tanguy, on BFMTV this Monday.
As a reminder, this reform, adopted forceps in 2023, gradually raises the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years. A measure which a large majority of French people are still against, according to the polls.
This statement from the RN deputy comes as leader Jordan Bardella judged last week the subject of pensions ” important “but not “priority”. To justify this delay of a few months, the MP asserted that“no government can arrive in place right during the Olympics and repeal a reform by causing chaos in the administration.”
He is also not the only one to defend the caution of the RN regarding this repeal. “Going back takes a long time, it can be costly and worrying for partners or investors,” declared to AFP this Monday Jérôme Sainte-Marie, RN candidate for the legislative elections in the Hautes-Alpes. And to add: “The public accounts are quite a heavy ship to maneuver, so it is not one of the immediate things to do.”
Early legislative elections: Bardella returns to the RN’s promise to immediately repeal the pension reform
In detail, the RN defends “the reform which was proposed by Marine Le Pen, namely that people who started working early, before the age of 20, subject to a certain number of quarters obviously, will be able to leave before the age of 60”, specified Philippe Tanguy.
Those who started their career after 20 years will be able to retire “between 60 and 62 years old depending on the annuities completed”. But “if you have not contributed enough it will always be 65 years old”, added the outgoing MP, putting forward a cost of 9 billion euros for this reform.
60 years for everyone on the left
This RN version of repeal differs from that advocated by the New Popular Front. The alliance of left-wing parties and movements promises to repeal the Macron reform this summer. “The faster we go, the easier it is, because it has barely started to be applied”justified the outgoing LFI deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis, Éric Coquerel, on the same channel.
Quantifying the cost of returning to age 62 at approximately “20 billion euros in 2032”, he considered it possible to finance this sum by increasing social security contributions. As for returning to a legal age of 60, that would cost “about twice as much” either “roughly 50 billion”which would be done ” gradually “ And “as soon as macroeconomic conditions permit”, he added.
In the longer term, the New Popular Front reaffirms in its program, which includes more than a hundred measures, a “common objective of the right to retire at 60”. However, the question of the starting age still recently divided socialists and rebels, as recently as during the campaign for the European elections which took place on June 9.
RN and New Popular Front: two “strongly similar” economic programs, according to Asterès
Emmanuel Macron defends his reform
For his part, Emmanuel Macron assumes his reform. He presented it again last week, during his press conference explaining his reasons for the dissolution of the National Assembly, as a choice which “wasn’t popular” but who “corresponds to the ethic of responsibility” and which was necessary for the sustainability of the system. He thus recalled the deficit of the system, revised slightly upwards by the Pension Orientation Council (COR), which estimates it at -0.4% of GDP in 2030.
The reform, according to him, made it possible “to increase the lowest pensions”, and the executive will not return to it, assured the head of state. And unlike the “rumors”pensions will remain “well indexed to inflation”he promised, ensuring that the purchasing power of retirees would not be “not an adjustment variable”. Going back on this reform would put “the bankrupt system”, he said.
According to an Elabe poll for La Tribune Dimanche and BFMTV, one in three French people want a victory for the RN, one in four for the left alliance and one in five for Renaissance. Let’s see how this comes to fruition at the polls, from June 30, the date of the first round.
(With AFP)
