France - Pensions

Retirement age called into question

Article published on the 2009-06-16 Latest update 2009-06-16 13:51 TU

Fillon speaks to parliament
(Credit: Reuters)

France could be on the way to raising its retirement age in the near future, if recent comments by senior government figures are anything to go by. French Prime Minister François Fillon said on Monday that raising the retirement age is not a “taboo” subject anymore and is one that merits national debate.

The current age at which people can take retirement in France is 60, which is lower than in many other European countries.

France is struggling to finance its pensions scheme, and it was announced this week that there will be a €7.7 billion pension shortfall this year.

The Minister for Labour Brice Hortefeux said last weekend there were three solutions to the problem – reducing pension payments, increasing the length of time that people have to make contributions for and to raise the retirement age as far as 67.

Reducing the level of pension payments has already been ruled out and from 2012 people will have to make pension contributions for 41 years, rather than the current 37, to benefit fully.

This means that increasing the retirement age looks the most likely to be pursued by the government. Successive government reforms since the 1990s have not effected the age at which people can start to take retirement, which has been fixed at 60 since 1982.

Fillon and Hortefeux’s comments were criticised by several trade unions but welcomed by the employers’ union Medef. The president of Medef, Laurence Parisot, called on the government to increase the retirement age to 63 and a half from 2012 to ensure that pensions can be financed.