According to calculations by the Retirement Guidance Council, the health crisis will worsen the deficit of the pension system by five billion euros per year for the years to come.

Nicolas Barré takes stock of a current economic issue.

More than ever, France will pay pensions on credit.

Because of the coronavirus, the deficit will widen on a lasting basis.

It is a national tragedy because when our pension system is in deficit, it means that we have to go into debt to pay pensions.

It is not an abstraction.

Very concretely, the younger generations are in debt to finance the pensions of the elderly.

Younger generations who are now suffering the full brunt of the Covid crisis since they finish their studies and cannot find a job.

In short, generations for which it is the double penalty.

The latest projections for the system deficit are worrying.

According to the calculations of the Retirement Guidance Council that we are delivering to you exclusively this morning, the health crisis will worsen the deficit of the system by five billion euros per year for the years to come.

This year, according to our information, the hole will be much deeper, 25.4 billion.

But the following years, there will always be several billion short, simply because contributions will be lower due to the employment situation while pension expenditure will remain the same.

Hence the inevitable recourse to debt.

Because it is hard to imagine the government taking measures to rebalance the accounts at the moment, such as increasing contributions or reducing pensions.

On the other hand, the great pension reform is still in the air.

This is part of Emmanuel Macron's promises, we can imagine that he will be questioned on this hot topic tonight.

Should we put this reform back on the table or not?

The social partners are convened on October 26 in Matignon for a social conference, the subject of pensions, if only because of the drift of accounts, will necessarily be debated.

The fact remains that before rebuilding the system for future generations, as the President of the Republic has dreamed of, it is necessary to fill the immediate holes that are growing.

And for that, the executive does not show much imagination: it is more debt and always more debt.