• “What happens to the 150 billion in reserves of the pension system?

    The question agitates social networks while the government defends its reform in order to guarantee the balance of the pension system.

  • These reserves do exist and they amounted to 180.4 billion euros as of December 31, 2021, according to the latest report from the Pensions Orientation Council (COR).

  • But, explains Pierre-Yves Chanu, Confederal Councilor of the CGT at the COR, "these reserve funds cannot be used by the government, not under the current conditions since it is a joint system, exclusively managed by social partners”.

There are reserve funds for pensions of 150 billion euros.

The argument has resurfaced since the presentation in early January of the pension reform project, pushing back the retirement age to 64 years.

Especially since the government is defending its bill by highlighting “the balance of the system” to be achieved in 2030 and the deficits that must not accumulate.

“What happens to the 150 billion in reserves of the pension system?

“Asks a user in a viral post.

“Do we have to imagine that this government is lying to us on this subject too?

“, is indignant, in a tweet shared 2,000 times, Martine Wonner, the ex-MP who became known for her opposition to health measures in the Covid-19 crisis.

To support these remarks, an excerpt from the interview with economist Gilles Raveaud given on BFM Business is included.

He said there in December 2019, when the first pension reform project wanted by Emmanuel Macron was launched, that there were "at the very least 150 billion euros in reserves for pensions".

He was referring in particular to the pension reserve fund, set up by Lionel Jospin, and to the supplementary pension system, which also has its reserve fund.

For the lecturer at the University of Paris-8, “there [was] no problems with funding pensions”.

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These reserves do exist and their amount has even increased since 2019. Thus, according to the report of the Pensions Orientation Council (COR) published in September 2022, the reserves within the pay-as-you-go system amount to 180.4 billion euros as of December 31, 2021. Agirc-Arrco, a supplementary scheme for private sector employees, has the best envelope with 86.5 billion euros in reserve.

The reserve fund for pensions (FRR) stands, in addition, at 26 billion euros.

The COR, a kind of justice of the peace on the subject, is an independent and pluralistic body, responsible for analyzing and monitoring the medium and long-term prospects of the French pension system.


But, explains Pierre-Yves Chanu, Confederal Councilor of the CGT at the COR, these reserves are “working capital, it is a safety cushion to guarantee the payment of pensions.

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"The reserve funds are not fungible," he explains.

They cannot be used by the government, not under the current conditions since it is a joint system, exclusively managed by the social partners.

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“The failure” of the 2019 reform

In July 2019, the Delevoye report provided for the possibility of drawing on these reserves following negotiations with the social partners.

But the reform presented in December 2019 envisaged creating a universal pension system, by merging the 42 existing schemes, which is no longer the case today.

“In the logic of a universal system, with a single scheme for employees and non-employees, we could merge the reserves, notes Pierre-Yves Chanu, but the social partners as much as the self-employed did not want to hear about it, it is one of the reasons for the failure of the reform.

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This option is no longer on the agenda in 2023, according to the CGT confederal adviser.

Asked, the office of the Prime Minister has not yet answered us for the time being.

To reform or not to reform, a political choice

The fundamental question, in reality, relates to the deficit of the pension system.

For the government, it is "urgent" and "essential" to reform in order to guarantee the balance of the regime, as pleaded by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, or the Minister of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal.

Unions and opposition parties think just the opposite.

“The pension system can be balanced and, for that, it is necessary to provide the necessary resources, defends Pierre-Yves Chanu.

For us, at the CGT, this implies an increase in contributions.

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In its report, the COR estimates that the pension system would be “on average in deficit over the next 25 years”, mainly due to the aging of the population.

But the choice to reform is political.

The COR also explains that it is not its responsibility to “position itself on the choice of the size of the pension system”.



"Depending on political preferences, it is perfectly legitimate to defend that these levels are too high or not high enough, and that a reform of the pension system should or should not be implemented", it is indicated.

The report specifies, however, that the results of the projections up to 2070 “do not validate the validity of the discourse which puts forward the idea of ​​an uncontrolled dynamic of pension expenditure”.

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