Paris (AFP)
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe received Thursday evening representatives of lawyers, who are mobilized against the pension reform project, and assured them that they will benefit, after the reform, from better pensions than in the current system.
On the eve of the adoption of the bill in the Council of Ministers, the head of government "welcomed the work carried out this week by representatives of the profession with the ministers to establish an objective inventory of the impact of the reform proposed by the government for lawyers ", reports Matignon in a press release after the meeting between Mr. Philippe -accompanied by the Keeper of the Seals Nicole Belloubet and the Secretary of State for Pensions Laurent Pietraszewski- and three representatives of the lawyers.
"These studies show that lawyers will be able to benefit, with the universal system, from higher pensions than in their current system", continues the press release, which confirms "the commitment to modify the calculation of the base of social contributions, in order to compensate for any increase in contributions linked to the universal system until 2029, through a 30% reduction as provided for in the reform for all self-employed workers ".
The lawyers multiply the spectacular protest actions in all France, like Thursday before the court of Bobigny, where about fifty of them made a haka.
The National Council of Bars (CNB) considers that the executive's proposal to keep the fund clean for their profession but within the universal regime, only "confirms the end of [their] autonomous regime".
The meeting in Matignon, which had been requested by the CNB, comes after several meetings at the Chancellery this week.
According to the CNB, which represents the 70,000 French lawyers, the reform project notably plans to double pension contributions (from 14 to 28%) for lawyers earning less than 40,000 euros per year, and pensions, currently at least 1,400 euros net , would drop to 1,000 euros.
A new meeting in Matignon is scheduled for February 2.
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