FILE PHOTO: French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe delivers a statement at the Hotel Matignon in Paris following a massive strike and protests against the government pensions reforms plan in France, December 6, 2019. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
December 11, 2019
By Dominique Vidalon
PARIS (Reuters) – Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Wednesday defied striking workers on Wednesday with plans for a long-anticipated overhaul of France’s byzantine pension system that he said would be fairer and encourage people to work longer.
France would replace a convoluted system of more than 42 separate state-funded plans with a universal, points-based system that will apply to those entering the job market for the first time in 2022, Philippe said in a speech that followed days of protests and strikes.
He did though show some flexibility to unions over the timing of the implementation of the plan, saying anyone within 17 years of retirement would be exempt.
“The time has come to build a universal pension system,” Philippe said in a much-anticipated speech. “There is no hidden agenda. “We want to protect the purchasing power of the workers and pensioners of today and tomorrow.”
The legal retirement age would remain at 62, the prime minister said, but workers would be incentivized to work longer. He said he expected that within five years the average worker would retire at 64.
There would be a minimum pension of 1,000 euros ($1,102.20) per month for those who worked a full career.
Reform of France’s pension system, which offers some of the most generous benefits in the industrialized world, has proven a treacherous task for past and present governments.
A strike by public sector workers over the past week has crippled France’s transport network, closed schools and forced the cancellation of some flights.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Christian Lowe)
