Paris (AFP)
Economists who participated in the presidential campaign Emmanuel Macron deplore the "budgetary considerations" that "obscure" the pension reform and call the executive to more "clarity" in a tribune to the World published Monday.
"To achieve such an ambitious reform, clarity is needed on its purpose, its parameters, the future governance of the system and, finally, the conditions for the convergence of the various existing regimes." This clarity has so far been lacking. , consider in this text the four co-signatories, namely Jean Pisani-Ferry, coordinator of the program of Mr. Macron and teacher at Sciences Po, the professor at the College of France Philippe Aghion, the delegated president of the Council of economic analysis ( attached to Matignon) Philippe Martin and Antoine Bozio, who was the inspiration during the reform campaign and heads the Institute of Public Policy.
"The central objectives of the reform - readability, security, trust, fairness - have been obscured by budgetary considerations that divert the essential," they still observe, while describing as "reform of progress" the introduction of a new universal system.
While Philippe must detail Wednesday the government project, one question among others is unresolved: how to articulate, alongside the structural reform, management measures, called "parametric", to reduce the deficit of the system , which should be between 8 and 17 billion in 2025 according to projections?
"Wanting to go through systemic reform and financing reform is likely to confuse issues," warn economists.
They recommend "giving up age measures", targeting the introduction of a "pivotal age" at 64 to retire, below which the pension would be reduced.
The co-signatories also call for "to dispel the distrust of the evolution of the value of accumulated points" by engraving in the law "stable and precise indexing rules, which apply even in the event of a recession".
As for the "governance of the system", it must be "transparent" and include "the social partners", they still write.
They also urge to ensure that the reform does not lead to a "deterioration of the situation of civil servants", particularly teachers, so that "no category will lose out".
Finally, they urge not to "lengthen" the transitions between existing systems and the future universal system, while the executive is considering postponing the implementation of the reform for certain categories.
"If the reform is unfair or anxiety-provoking, deadlines will not solve anything, if, as we think, it is socially just and economically efficient, why delay it," they ask.
© 2019 AFP