Minister of Labor ready for "fair and reasonable adjustments" on pension reform

"I launched a consultation a month ago, addressed to the social partners, on fair and reasonable adjustments, on two points which seem to me to be really improvable today", namely "professional wear and tear and small women's pensions", declared Ms Panosyan-Bouvet.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, who was already part of the Barnier government, stated that she wanted to "put the question of social dialogue and social partners at the heart of all discussions, in addition to the political parties, which is what we will do with Catherine Vautrin (Minister of Labour, Health, Solidarity and Families, Editor's note) and François Bayrou".

"If things need to be brought up again, we will look at it together, but once again I hope that the social partners will be at the heart of the discussions that will be undertaken," she added, "because they are rooted in the daily realities and economic constraints of businesses."

On December 23, Prime Minister François Bayrou said he refused to suspend or freeze the 2023 pension reform, as the left is demanding, after having proposed a few days earlier to political forces to reopen a discussion on this reform for nine months.

"There are all possible compromises. If there is one, I am ready," he added.

An emblematic measure of the Macron presidency, the unpopular pension reform ran into one of the longest social movements in recent decades, before finally being adopted with forceps in March 2023 via Article 49.3 used by the then Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.

In addition to the gradual increase in the legal retirement age from 62 to 64, this reform has changed a number of parameters in the calculation of pensions, in particular the rules in the event of early retirement.

It creates a "boost" for the "small pensions" of retirees who have worked all their lives at minimum wage, or for those combining employment and retirement.

Both the left and the far right have promised to repeal it during the legislative campaign following the dissolution of the National Assembly in June 2024.