Pensions “under construction”

Two years after the reform adopted with great difficulty by his predecessor Elisabeth Borne, François Bayrou has "chosen to bring this subject back into the spotlight, with the social partners, for a short time".
In the immediate future, the Prime Minister will ask the Court of Auditors via "a flash mission of a few weeks" to present "the current and precise state of the financing of the pension system".
At the same time, "a permanent delegation will be created," said Mr. Bayrou, who "will convene this body on Friday." He "will propose to the representatives of each organization to work around the same table (...) for three months, starting from the report of the Court of Auditors."
"We can, I am convinced, seek a new path of reform, without any totem and without any taboo, not even the retirement age," he assured, on the sole "condition" of not "deteriorating the financial balance" of the retirement system.
"If during this conclave" emerges "an agreement of balance and better justice, we will adopt it", he affirmed, setting as "deadline" the next Social Security budget for the autumn. Failing that, "it is the current reform that would continue to apply".
Budget under pressure
Mr Bayrou called on Parliament to "adopt without delay" the two budgets for the State and Social Security, which have been pending since the censure of the Barnier government at the beginning of December.
"We are all paying a high price for this budgetary precariousness," stressed the Prime Minister, before revising downwards the economic growth forecast for 2025, from 1,1% to 0,9% of GDP.
The public deficit is now expected to be 5,4%, compared to 5% previously, but still with the objective of bringing it back in 2029 to the maximum of 3% tolerated by the European Commission.
To achieve this, "significant savings will be proposed," Mr. Bayrou indicated, without giving further details, before announcing "the creation of a special fund entirely dedicated to the reform of the State" and financed by the sale of "part of its assets, in particular real estate."
Extension for health
No cuts to the reimbursement of medicines and medical consultations. "The measure of delisting" envisaged by Michel Barnier then abandoned under pressure from the RN "will not be resumed", Mr. Bayrou announced.
On the contrary, the government will propose "a significant increase" in health spending in order to "improve the working conditions of caregivers and protect the most vulnerable", added the head of government, paving the way for an increase greater than the 2,8% already proposed in the fall.
The Prime Minister confirmed in passing "the full reimbursement of wheelchairs from 2025", a promise made by Emmanuel Macron almost two years ago.
Proportional and cumulative
Mr. Bayrou has put back on the table a subject that is close to his heart by proposing "to move forward on the reform of the voting method" in the legislative elections, with "the adoption of the proportional principle for the representation of the people" while remaining "rooted in the territories."
This reform "will force us to raise at the same time the question of the simultaneous exercise of local and national responsibility", he continued, taking up the position of the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, in favour of a return to the accumulation of mandates.
The Prime Minister also relaunched another of his ideas: that of a "democracy bank" so that political parties can obtain funding from "public bodies" and "no longer depend on the choice of private banks".
Communities managed
Keen to give "a central place" to local authorities, Mr. Bayrou confirmed that the effort that will be asked of them in the 2025 budget will be reduced from "5 to 2,2 billion euros".
On the specific case of Corsica, the Prime Minister also promised to "respect" the timetable "to achieve a constitutional development by the end of 2025".
Likewise for New Caledonia, he hoped "that the political process would resume with negotiations which should be concluded by the end of this quarter" and announced that he "would invite the political forces to come to Paris in January to open these negotiations".