Paris (AFP)
Pension reform is not a request from the European Commission but a necessity for France, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Europe 1 on Monday.
Paris, which will present its recovery plan in Brussels on Wednesday, will affect "about 10%, that is to say a little more than 5 billion euros at the beginning of September" of the total amount owed to it, that is to say nearly 40 billion euros, he said.
An amount which represents 40% of its recovery plan of 100 billion euros, which began to be deployed at the end of 2020 and on which "there is already 30 billion euros disbursed".
Asked to say whether obtaining this aid is conditional on the adoption of the pension reform, the minister replied: "no, that is not correct".
"It is not the European Commission which asks us anything, that is the reasoning of Madame Le Pen who, to discredit the EU and the pension reform says that it is a demand of Brussels".
"It is not Brussels which is asking us for a pension reform, it is France which needs a pension reform so that its pay-as-you-go pension system is financially viable," he said.
To be validated by Brussels, the "national plan for recovery and resilience", like that of other member states, must meet several conditions, including commitments on reforms long demanded by the EU.
This is the case with the overhaul of the pension system, recommended by the European Council in 2019 in its opinion on France's stability program, and Emmanuel Macron's campaign promise.
But as Paris should put forward to Brussels the reform of unemployment insurance, which must come into force on July 1, so it is not certain that the pension reform, postponed indefinitely because of the pandemic, appears in the recycle bin.
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