France’s financing minister has actually confessed that attempting to press back the nation’s retirement age is a “risk” for President Emmanuel Macron as he looks for reelection, however states it is required to strengthen and safeguard the French social system.
Macron’s project promises for elections next month includes a shakeup of France’s complex pensions system and the moving of the retirement age to 65 from62 France presently has among the earliest retirement ages amongst industrialized countries.
The president made a comparable guarantee prior to 2017’s election, however the last propositions were consulted with demonstrations prior to being stopped due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to CNBC’s Charlotte Reed on Thursday night, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stated it was “risky, but it’s a necessity.”
“It is a necessity if you want to improve the global prosperity of the French nation … Because that’s the best way of protecting our social model. That’s the best way of giving the guarantee to all the French citizens that they will have access to a fair and efficient pension system,” he stated.
Another alternative would be to increase taxes, however “clearly” we do not wish to do that, he stated, including that the administration in fact wishes to cut taxes rather.
“The other way would be to reduce the level of pensions. That’s also a solution that we clearly want to avoid,” Le Maire stated.
“So if you want to avoid those two bad solutions, and if you want to reinforce and protect the French social system you don’t have any other choice than to push back the retirement age.”
