Retirees must make their contribution to the recovery of public finances. In 2025, pensions will increase by 1Ahem July, six months late compared to the usual calendar in recent years. This postponement of the increase, the pace of which is not yet known, should save around €4 billion during the next budget year, according to the government, which made this announcement on Wednesday, October 2. This arbitration breaks with the doctrine that Emmanuel Macron had forged for several months: not to undermine the standard of living of this category of French.
The measure presented on Wednesday affects some 14 million people affiliated with mandatory basic regimes, particularly employees in the public and private sectors. On the other hand, it does not affect the benefits paid by complementary pension funds (Agirc-Arrco, among others), which follow different mechanisms. For the women and men affected, this is obviously bad news because, in 2025, their pension will remain unchanged for six months, when it should have been revised upwards from 1Ahem January. The effort required of them is part of Matignon and Bercy’s plan to reduce the public deficit to 5% of GDP in 2025 (compared to the 6.1% expected in 2024).
This election demonstrates, once again, that the policy led by the Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, differs from the will of the Head of State. “The purchasing power of retirees is not an adjustment variable”declared Macron on June 12 during a press conference. A kind of Elysian red line, which had been reaffirmed while for several months voices had been raised, both in Bercy and within the majority, to consider the possibility of involving this segment of the population.
“Technocratic trick”
At that time, the debate focused on the revaluation rules, considered very costly, because they index pensions to prices, with the former advancing at the same pace as the latter. The application of such a provision meant an expense of almost 15 billion euros in 2024, due to inflation close to 5%. At the end of February, Thomas Cazenave, then minister responsible for public accounts, raised the possibility of reviewing these conditions to reduce the bill, for example by subindexing, that is, increasing benefits less quickly than costs. . It was reformulated by the President of the Republic a few days later.
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