"A kind of embezzlement", the contribution of Agirc-Arrco turns into a showdown

Baptiste Morin / Photo credit: SERGE TENANI / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 14:30 pm, October 03, 2023

It is a hoard that is of great interest to the state. While it seeks to finance its pension reform, and more specifically the revaluation of small pensions, the government is looking at the surpluses of the Agirc-Arrco regime. A supplementary scheme that distributes pensions to some 13 million pensioners and which, with a prize pool of 68 billion euros, displays a brilliant health. The government therefore wants to take a few billion euros each year from these funds, but the social partners who manage them are negotiating among themselves, at this very moment, to set the rules for the coming years.

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"I dispute these terms"

In particular, it is a question of abandoning the discount in force that has made it possible to release these flourishing surpluses or of upgrading the supplementary pensions of private sector employees to 5% from 1 January. What undermine the projects of Agirc-Arrco, according to Michel Beaugas of Force Ouvrière, guest of Europe 1 this Tuesday morning. "The government is hampering Agirc-Arrco's ability to properly increase private retirement pensions. It's a kind of embezzlement that the government is doing," he said.

False, answers Olivier Dussopt, the Minister of Labor, guest of Sonia Mabrouk on Europe 1 and CNews in La Grande interview. "This money we are talking about, this billion euros or so by 2026, is money that would not exist if there had not been the [pension] reform. So I do dispute those terms."

"Of the total surpluses of 2026 of Agirc-Arcco, there are about 1 billion, 1.2 billion that would not exist without the reform. And we consider that this surplus, it is normal that it is used, "says @olivierdussopt#LaGrandeITW#Europe1pic.twitter.com/VI0pNn3I9r

— Europe 1 (@Europe1) October 3, 2023

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The threat of Olivier Dussopt

For the time being, the government is letting the social partners continue their discussions by encouraging them, albeit quite strongly, to propose themselves to pay out part of the surpluses of the supplementary scheme each year. Spontaneous participation, therefore, but in reality, unions and employers have no choice. In the absence of an agreement, Olivier Dussopt leaves the threat of a measure in the social security finance bill (PLFSS) that will be debated in Parliament in the coming weeks. But in the columns of the Echoes, this Tuesday morning, Patrick Martin, president of the Medef, is frankly opposed. The tug-of-war is therefore far from over.