According to French economist, Macron's pension overhaul 'not a very smart reform & largely unfair'
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Well, French Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne says the ruling administration is determined
00:06 to accelerate the pension reform.
00:07 The remarks coming after President Emmanuel Macron signed the controversial bill into
00:11 law in the early hours of Saturday, leaving opposition parties livid.
00:16 Well, here to give us a more intricate perspective on what to expect in the near future in France,
00:22 I'm joined by Renaud Ducard, senior lecturer in economics at Lancaster University.
00:27 Renaud, I want to just find out from your perspective what we can expect in terms of
00:33 protest action in the coming weeks following the signing into law.
00:39 So we are very close to the 1st of May, which is traditionally a very big demonstration
00:43 day.
00:44 So we have already a few demonstrations planned in the coming days.
00:47 There will be a large demonstration on the 1st of May.
00:50 But the fact of the matter is that given that Macron has been very quick at enacting the
00:55 law, there is somehow relatively little to do unless you have this hope as a union that
01:02 endless demonstration could somehow lead to something equivalent to what happened to the
01:06 first job contract that was created 10 years ago.
01:10 The only occasion I think was something was cancelled after many, many strikes.
01:14 So I think a lot of demonstration up to the 1st of May and maybe next opposition party
01:19 trying to bank on the anger on the government to try to win the next election, which is
01:24 the European election coming very soon.
01:27 Well lots of anger, as you mentioned.
01:29 I want to go back to the basics.
01:30 Macron has repeatedly said this pension reform bill is necessary to get that pension shortfall
01:36 sorted.
01:38 Do you as an economist agree with this outlook?
01:41 As an economist, I agree that demography is what it is and that in a way, if you don't
01:47 raise somehow either the pension age or the number of years that people work, you need
01:51 to finance it in another way.
01:53 And the opposition is not saying differently when they at the moment are pushing for a
01:57 referendum in which they say we need to keep the pension age at 62 but we're going to increase
02:02 taxes instead.
02:03 So that is not the question.
02:04 The question was the way Macron did it.
02:07 I think it was not a very smart reform.
02:09 It was a reform that was largely unfair in the sense that it was treated badly people
02:13 who started to work earlier or women.
02:15 But in the end about the fact that there is a cost to public fund and that somehow it
02:19 made sense to make people work a bit longer, this was not so different from what François
02:24 Hollande did.
02:25 And this was also part of Emmanuel Macron's job of showing that he's a responsible leader.
02:29 And that's also the way he's now such a senior politician in Europe and such an important
02:34 voice on the European stage is because he always keep this idea that he's serious with
02:38 public funds.
02:39 So was it a good reform?
02:40 I don't think so.
02:41 Was it a necessary reform?
02:43 Some form of increasing pension contribution made sense unless you wanted to have more
02:47 taxes or lower public spending.
02:49 Renaud Foucault, thank you so much for joining us.
02:51 Renaud Foucault, professor at Lancaster University of Economics.