The French government is facing a new wave of opposition as it considers raising the retirement age from 64 to 66. A report from the Council on Retirement Policy has warned that the state pension system could collapse without this change. Union leaders are predicting a “social explosion” if the reforms go through.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the radical France Unbowed party, has called the proposal a “declaration of war.”
France has one of the lowest rates of pensioner poverty in Europe. Many French people view early retirement as a fair reward for decades of highly taxed work. However, the costs are rising as the number of pensioners has grown from 10 million to 17 million in recent years.
President Macron argues that reform is needed due to demographics and economic pressures.
France faces pension reform backlash
His previous reforms aimed to raise the pension age to 64 by 2030 and increase the number of years workers must contribute to the system to receive a full pension.
The challenge of balancing pension reform with public approval is not unique to France. Denmark plans to raise the pension age to 70 by 2040. Teachers, doctors, museum staff, and trade unionists are among those ready to fight the changes.
They echo the massive protests from two years ago when Macron’s proposal to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 led to widespread unrest. Questions remain about how retirement is evolving and what post-retirement life should entail. These issues add complexity to the pension reform debate, but they must be addressed to find a sustainable path forward.
