French government plans to gradually raise statutory retirement age to 64 – Xinhua English.news.cn

The French government intends to gradually raise the statutory retirement age to 64

Xinhua News Agency, Paris, January 10 (Reporters Xu Yongchun and Tang Ji) On the 10th, French Prime Minister Borne announced the plan to reform the pension system, planning to gradually increase the statutory retirement age from the current 62 to 64 by the 2030, and promised to raise minimum pension standards.

According to the reform plan announced by Borne at a press conference that day, starting from September 1 this year, the statutory retirement age will be “deferred by three months every year and raised to 64 by 2030”. The plan also provides that from 2027 retirees will be able to receive a full pension only if they have paid social security contributions for 43 years.

In order to reduce resistance to implementation, the program plans to raise the minimum pension standard to 85% of the minimum wage standard. Borne also announced that the retirement age for some special and difficult sectors could be reduced on a case-by-case basis.

It was reported that the plan will be presented to the Cabinet for discussion on the 23rd and will be submitted for consideration by the National Assembly and the Senate later this month and early February.

The reform of the pension system is an important issue of the Macron government, which aims to achieve a balance of payments without raising taxes or cutting pensions, so as to maintain the stability of the pension system. Macron began planning to reform the pension system during his first term as president. However, due to many obstacles and the outbreak of the new corona epidemic, the process of reforming the pension system did not go smoothly and was even shelved for a time.

In his 2023 New Year’s speech, Macron called 2023 “the year of reform of the French pension system”.