Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron receives at the Elysee the eight leaders of the major trade union and employers' centers to address many subjects, including that of pension reform.

And the social partners are almost unanimous in saying their refusal of a reform before the presidential election. 

Vaccination, economic recovery ... They should give an overview of current affairs, but the liveliest discussions could concern pension reform. Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron receives union and employer leaders at the Elysee Palace. The eight leaders of the major trade union centers (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC) and employers (Medef, CPME, U2P) will therefore be present in the company of Prime Minister Jean Castex as well as ministers Bruno Le Maire (Economy ) and Elisabeth Borne (Labor). And while the President of the Republic should say in a few days whether he wishes to initiate this reform in the fall, the social partners are unanimous in saying that no one wants it before the presidential election. 

>> Find all the newspapers of the editorial staff of Europe 1 in replay and podcast here

Indeed, both on the side of the CFDT, Force Ouvrière, CGT and Medef, we consider that this reform should not be launched before the election.

"We hope that the President of the Republic has heard the message," says one on the side of the CFDT.

"It's a complex subject, you have to take the time" we add. 

CPME alone in favor of rapid reform

The Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CPME) is going it alone, joking for rapid reform. "What we think is that in any case, we know very well, the longer we wait, the more the reform can be painful, and the calendar of the measurement of age, more and more constrained and hard for the people who are going to be concerned, "explains its president, François Asselin, to Europe. Also, he adds, "the sooner we do it, the less painful it will be."

"Many French people agree to say that we must have a certain equity in relation to pensions, whether one is an employee in the commercial sector or a civil servant," said François Asselin, "so we think there is when even some leeway to try to explain to the French that this reform is important ".

"And if we postpone it, it will be even more complicated than if we don't postpone it." 

The raising of the retirement age at the heart of the dispute

Anyway, on the side of the Elysee, we seem to bet on a first part of this reform before the election. And on the side of the unions, the main sticking point is the lowering of the retirement age to 64 years. Today, the legal age is 62 in France, the lowest in the OECD. The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, invited from Europe 1 a few weeks ago, said he was in favor of postponing the legal age of departure. A reform which is also a priority for him. But the FO, CGT and CFDT unions are fiercely opposed to it.

Another possibility studied by the executive: accelerating the timetable for the Touraine reform, voted in 2014, and which plans to increase the contribution period for a full-rate pension from 41 annuities and three quarters today to 43 annuities in 2032. A scenario that appeals to certain social partners such as the CFDT. Provided, they say, to do things gradually.