Paris (AFP)
The financing conference, which must bring together the social partners in order to find before the end of April the means to guarantee the financial balance of the pension system by 2027, will be launched on January 30, Edouard Philippe said in an interview with La Cross.
"This funding conference will be launched on January 30 at the Economic, Social and Environmental Council. I am hopeful that it will lead to something intelligent and responsible," said the Prime Minister, refusing to accept to launch tracks other than those of the pivotal age, "because if I start to evoke such or such instrument, I reduce to nothing the interest of this conference".
In this interview given to the Catholic daily on the eve of a new day of union action and call to strike, the head of government defended the "good compromise" found with the reformist unions. "I moved by removing the pivotal age. The trade unions, including the CFDT, moved on their side" by admitting the principle of a return to balance.
Regarding the proposals that should emerge from the funding conference, Édouard Philippe considered that "there may be a measure of age".
"I have always said that it seemed impossible to bring our pension system back to balance without an age measure. (...) But if the social partners agree on a cocktail of measures, including a measure of age different from the pivotal age, I will take it, "he argued.
On the other hand, he deplored that other trade union organizations "do not (absolutely) want this reform". "Do not carry it out because we know that they have blocking capacities, that is not what democracy is," he warned, however, reiterating his condemnation of "all the actions that operate outside the right to strike, such as blockages or blackouts, "which are" illegal and should be subject to sanctions ".
The Prime Minister again defended the principle of the universal pension system, which he says he believes will "live a very long time".
"I say this with a smile, but I wish good luck to the Prime Minister who, in the future, would propose to break the universal system into forty-two regimes, some of which would not be balanced, and for which we would have to pay so that their policyholders work less than others, "he quipped.
© 2020 AFP