Without a social security budget, pensions will be revalued based on inflation

Under the Social Security Code, basic pensions are increased each year on January 1, indexed to the increase in consumer prices (excluding tobacco) noted by INSEE for the previous year.

To save 3 billion euros, the government and the senatorial right had decided to modify these rules in 2025. Pensions were only to be increased by half of inflation on January 1, or +0,8% according to the executive, with a supplement on July 1 for pensions below 1.500 euros gross to reach +1,6%.

Without this text, the law prevails. Questioned on Franceinfo on Wednesday, the Minister of Labor Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet confirmed it: "retirees would indeed be winners, if we can say that there are winners, because effectively (...) they would see their pensions indexed to inflation."

But "there is a form of reluctance and short-sightedness on the part of the political class which considers retirees as a homogeneous bloc. (...) 75% of retirees are homeowners" and some "can, I think, participate in the effort to redress our public accounts, in the same way as those in work", continued the minister, judging that the Social Security budget would have "protected" precarious retirees.

Without a budget, France will find itself in "an ocean of difficulties" and "17 million households" will see their taxes increase, stressed Ms Panosyan-Bouvet.

The government's plan to under-index pensions is one of the factors cited to justify the fall of the government: on Monday, Marine Le Pen gave Matignon an ultimatum asking it to abandon the plan, threatening otherwise to vote for censure.

"I'm fine with us coming up with a shopping list and going through them" but "that's not how it should be," Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq reacted on BFMTV on Wednesday. She said that "we can't continue to hit a wall and live beyond our means," with savings being necessary.

The executive wanted in particular to transfer several hundred million euros of charges to health insurance, via a 5-point reduction in the portion reimbursed by health insurance for medical consultations and medication.

But Michel Barnier has already committed to Marine Le Pen not to do this on medicines, which represented "350 million euros" in savings, the minister indicated. These measures are, however, of a "regulatory" nature, and other "balances" could be found later, she judged.

Furthermore, without a social security budget, there will not be "9 billion more for health insurance this year, including 3 billion for hospitals", she regretted.