Liberal professions demonstrate in Paris against pension reform

Demonstration organized by the collective "SOS Retraites" which brings together lawyers, doctors, nurses and other self-employed workers, to protest against the plan to reform the pension system, on February 3, 2020, in Paris. CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

Text by: Altin Lazaj

The liberal professions demonstrated this afternoon in Paris against the pension reform. Several thousand people, lawyers, nurses, doctors, physiotherapist, and even airline pilots, have beaten the pavement between the places of the Bastille and the Opera.

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The procession was mainly composed of lawyers very upset against the reform , which plans to double the pension contributions for those who earn less than 45,000 euros per year. " We will go on average from 14% to 28%, so a 14% increase in our charges ," says Thibault Geoffroi, a young lawyer at the Paris bar. I did the simulation: compared to what I earn, I will contribute 7,000 euros more per year to earn, ultimately, 4,000 euros less per year on my pension. Who today would accept such a delta? It is not possible "

On the contrary, we do not cost the taxpayer anything: we contribute to national solidarity.

Patrick Parmiere, lawyer demonstrating against pension reform

Speech-language pathologists are also concerned about the increase in charges. For Isabelle Bir, speech therapist at Vincennes, it is the future of the profession that is at stake. “ I earn 35,000 euros per year in profits, I pay 700 euros for my retirement. If this reform passes, I will go to 1,400 euros per month of pension contribution - and I do not know if I will have compensation that will allow me to continue to exercise my profession properly. We cannot increase our fees because we are registered with Social Security, we cannot pass on this increase on the price of our consultations. "

Like lawyers, these professions want to keep their pension funds autonomous and beneficiaries.

► Read also: France: the parliamentary battle for pension reform has started

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