It is one of the files engulfed by the coronavirus crisis: the pension reform, pending since March, will be put back on the negotiating table by the Castex government. And without waiting.
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On July 20, barely two weeks from now, the newly appointed prime minister will bring together the social partners for " a method conference ", he announced to deputies this Wednesday during questions to the government. The first bilateral meetings are scheduled for July 8. A very tight agenda that has enough to take all stakeholders by surprise. " We did not expect it at all, we too learned about the date of July 20 from the press today," moves Frédéric Sève, national secretary of the CFDT. We thought that until the fall, we would devote ourselves to unemployment, to recovery . ” Even the Medef, through the voice of its president Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, had advocated that the reform be " put on pause"
With this announcement, Jean Castex wants to demonstrate his ability to act quickly, but also to position himself as the figurehead of this pension reform. On the side of the Ministry of Labor, which is now in charge of this file, " the cabinets are not yet fully constituted, " we are told. Laurent Pietraszewski, Secretary of State for Pensions under the previous government, has so far not been reappointed or replaced since the Secretaries of State will not be appointed until next week. Until then, it is Élisabeth Borne who is in charge of bilateral meetings with the unions.
Do not make a clean sweep
The government will need to quickly determine what it wants to keep or change in the bill that has been hotly debated since the end of last year. It had even been voted at first reading by the National Assembly, before the coronavirus crisis gave it a halt.
" We can not start all over ," freezes Nicolas Turquois, MP MoDem and former co-rapporteur of the pension bill passed in March. According to the Prime Minister, this text should remain a basis for negotiation. But it should be subject to a new breakdown and a new calendar. Jean Castex wishes, for example, to prioritize the question of " current funding " of the plan. Since the coronavirus crisis, it has been bloodless. According to a provisional estimate by the Pensions Guidance Council (COR), the deficit in the pension system should plunge this year and reach the record level of 30 billion euros, very far from the 4 billion expected before the crisis. In the " short term ", the government should therefore consider " measures to be taken to safeguard it ".
Castex also intends to carry out a reform towards a “ future universal regime, against the backdrop of the future of special regimes ”. A " fundamental reform, to which we will not give up ", but of which, once again, the contours have not yet been drawn.
"We don't want this reform"
For the government, it remains to be seen how not to make the mistakes that bogged down the first bill, with a social movement of unprecedented duration. The strike notably paralyzed transport managed by the SNCF and the RATP - whose employees benefit from special schemes - for many months. " We remain in the same frame of mind as at the beginning of the year, warns Laurent Djebali, union representative Unsa-RATP. That is to say, we do not want this reform ”.
To avoid the social crisis, Frédéric Sève anticipates a reform brought in “ in small pieces ”, to prioritize the development of the universal pension scheme that the CFDT calls for. " Determine if the system is point or peanut, we can differ, for example. We're not nearly six months away , ”he judges. " It is a question of method," adds MP Nicolas Turquois. We are not dealing so much with a challenge to the target system as with a challenge to the transition pathways ”.
It is precisely on his method that Jean Castex counts to lead the debates on pension reform. " You know, sometimes you have to give time a little time " pleads the man who has repeatedly defended the virtues of " negotiation ".
