A cost-saving measure announced by the government, the postponement of the increase in the basic pension until July 1, 2025 could finally be reviewed. Return to an increase on January 1, adaptation according to retirees’ income… parliamentarians are putting numerous proposals on the table.
© Illustration Capital / Freepik
– The postponement of the increase in pensions is widely criticized.
Is the common base already cracking? This name, used by the government to talk about parliamentary groups which are rather favorable to it (Les Républicains, Ensemble pour la République, Horizons or even le Modem), is in trouble. A concrete example: the postponement of the revaluation of the basic pension from January 1 to July 1, 2025. This measure appears in article 23 of the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS) for 2025. The text is currently debated in Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly.
And the least we can say is that the measure is far from unanimous, even among the ranks of parliamentarians who could support the government of Michel Barnier. Unsurprisingly, several amendments from the New Popular Front (NFP) and La France Insoumise (LFI) purely and simply call for the deletion of this article. And therefore, to properly revalue all basic pensions in line with inflation – estimated at 1.8% by the executive – next January 1st.
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A quasi-consensus to spare the most modest
The cancellation of the measure is also requested by deputies from Ensemble pour la République, the party supporting Emmanuel Macron. “Freezing the revaluation of all retirement pensions in an indiscriminate manner thus appears neither appropriate nor appropriate, beyond the massive savings that this measure would make”it is thus written in the presentation of the amendment carried by the deputy for Loiret, Stéphanie Rist. The Republicans, the party from which Prime Minister Michel Barnier comes, are not asking for the removal of this measure, but rather for its adjustment. In an amendment presented by several party deputies, it is proposed to keep an increase on January 1 for the most modest retirees, earning less than 2,000 euros net per month.
A softening of the measure which is also supported by the Horizons deputies, including the former Minister of Health, Frédéric Valletoux. Thus, rather than postponing the revaluation of the basic pension for all retirees until July 1, 2025, they wish, exceptionally for 2025, not to revalorize pensions above 2,300 euros gross per year and maintain, for the others, an increase on January 1st.
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On the Modem side, we want to use a method already put in place in 2020: revaluing pensions at different levels. On January 1, it would be a question of indexing to inflation pensions below 1,700 euros per month, half of inflation those included between 1,700 and 2,500 euros and to freeze pensions when they exceed this threshold. Always with the aim of preserving the most modest savings measures.
As there are more and more voices against this postponement of revaluation, the government seems ready to change its position. “We are going to have a discussion, and I am in favor of it, so that we can have a threshold, a retirement level that can be protected”declared Laurent Saint-Martin, Minister responsible for the Budget and Public Accounts, on France 2this Monday, October 21, evoking a threshold which could be 1,200 euros, 1,400 euros or even 1,600 euros. He indicated that this limit would be fixed in the debate, “so as not to penalize those who are the most vulnerable among our fellow retired citizens”while specifying that he was not in favor of a year-round freeze for the wealthiest retirees. A decline yes, but with certain limits set by the executive.
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