Pensions: a “financial, difficult, essential” reform, according to Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux

Europe 1 with AFP 11:29 a.m., February 19, 2023, modified at 11:32 a.m., February 19, 2023

The pension reform will bounce back in 10 days in the Senate, allowing Emmanuel Macron to get out of the woods.

After two weeks of stagnation at the Palais-Bourbon, where only the first two articles out of the 20 that make up the text could be fully examined, the reform is attacking a kind of fake dish that marries the parliamentary holidays and the temporary break in social mobilization, before the big day of action on March 7.

“It is a reform that is never popular”

Over the multiple concessions of the government, has the pension reform been emptied of its substance?

"It is a financial reform, difficult, essential because we have a system in deficit. It is not very popular to say it but it is the reality", affirmed Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, president of Medef, guest of the

 d'Europe 1/CNews/Les Échos this Sunday.

“In all the countries around us that have increased the retirement age, there has been the same percentage, within a few commas, of people who were opposed. It is a reform that is never popular, in no Western country. The only difference is that in France, we have this tradition of demonstration which is much stronger than elsewhere, "he continued.

“Explaining that there is no problem with a pension deficit is wrong”

According to the Pensions Orientation Council (COR), with an assumption made by the government, the deficit could amount to 15 billion euros in 2030. The executive retains an assumption of 4.5% unemployment rate and an increase in productivity of 0.7% per year, an "optimistic" scenario specifies the president of Medef.

"Explaining that there is no problem with a pension deficit is false. When the reform is enacted, we will look at the accounts and how much it allows, in reasonable simulations, to save", he said. -he adds.

>> Find the Grand Rendez-vous every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Europe 1 as well as in podcast and replay here

Another pension reform in seven years?

This reform, which should be able to sustainably balance the system, will it be the last of the pension reforms?

“The only thing that is certain is demographics. We know how many children were born last year and therefore how many will enter the labor market in the next 30 years. The projections depend on economic growth and productivity. It protects us from further reform for at least seven years, after which we will see,” he said.