Retirement: pensioners punctuated to keep the scheme afloat?

In a report submitted to François Bayrou this Thursday, April 10, the sages of rue Cambon plead to modify the rules for revaluing pensions, in order to balance the finances of the pension plan.

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Retirees in the viewfinder of the Court of Auditors? While its president, Pierre Moscovici, presented this report on Thursday, April 10, his report on the impact of the retirement system on competitiveness and employment, the document given to Prime Minister François Bayrou seems to advocate pensioners to be contained. “Seems” since, as the senior official said, “It does not belong to the Court to formulate detailed proposals to determine the levers of improving the employment rate and French competitiveness, less even to recommend the reforms of the parameters of the pension system”. The mission of the wise men is indeed confined to the transmission of indisputable data on the state of our pension plan to the social partners, responsible for improving the last reform of 2023. Nevertheless, the position of the institution of rue Cambon is no doubt: Retirees should go to the checkout To restore the finances of the regime.

Already threatened with lose their tax reduction by 10%retirees could thus see their pension decrease, or rather increase less quickly, in the coming years. These pensions have been indexed to inflation since 1987 as a reminder. “This indexing on inflation does not necessarily appear to be the best suited for the search for a lasting and equitable balance of the pension system”slipped Pierre Moscovici, pleading for “At least partial indexing on wages, accompanied by a sustainability factor, as in some of our European partners”. Because if the evolution of wages, linked to economic growth, is generally higher than that of prices, this has not been the case in recent years, marked by very high inflation. Pensions increased by 5.3% in January 2024 and by 2.2% in January 2025, while wages only believed 4.1% in 2023 and 2.6% in 2024.

France’s expenses for its retirees far superior to those in the euro zone

For the president of the Court of Auditors, decrease – relatively – retirement pensions by indexing them on wages rather than the rise in prices “Would have the advantage of facilitating the piloting of the pension system; Above all, it would expose assets and retirees in a united manner to the same economic hazards ”. Especially since as the report of wise men points, France spends a lot for its retirees, compared to other members of the euro zone: 13.5% of GDP in France, against 11%. “The additional French public spending on retirement compared to the average of the euro zone countries represented more than 66 billion euros in 2022. The difference is 118 billion euros compared to Germany”.

And this comparison with our neighbor from across the Rhine is anything but trivial for Pierre Moscovici, since this gap is due to “Half to the parameters of the pension system, which lead to an average level of higher pensions and an average age of departure earlier than our partner”. So, while the standard of living of retirees German represents 87.8% of that of assets, in France, this rate peaks at 99.8%, underlines the report. If the Court of Auditors is obviously to say that French pensioners are too expensive, it recommends cutting in retirement expenses by drawing inspiration from other European countries with “An indexing of pensions taking into account the evolution of wages on the one hand and the evolution of the ratio between the number of retirees and the contributors on the other”. Clearly, the more the retired/active ratio would increase, the more the pensions stall compared to wages would be important. A factor of “sustainability” which would therefore come to grew future pensions of retirees if the social partners decide to inspire them to improve the reform of 2023.