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French audit office says keeping pension system unchanged is impossible

www.reuters.com

reuters.com

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.10-162722/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-audit-office-says-keeping-pension-system-unchanged-is-impossible-2025-04-10/

PARIS, April 10 (Reuters) - France cannot afford not to reform its pension system and it should look at how to get people working for longer and make changes to how pensions are indexed to inflation, the independent audit office said on Thursday.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou has tasked the Cour des Comptes with analysing how the pension system weighs on the competitiveness of the euro zone's second-biggest economy.

He commissioned the report to shape a debate underway among employers' federations and unions on how to revise an unpopular 2023 reform that gradually raises the pension age to 64 from 62.

State pensions are an explosive issue in France and audit office head Pierre Moscovici was careful not to make explicit recommendations, although he highlighted that working longer and tweaking the pension link to inflation would yield results.

"The status quo for the financing of the retirement system is impossible, or at least is insufficient to keep the system sustainable in the medium and long-term," he told journalists.

3 comments

  • Just start lowering pensions according how much money there is, soon enough everyone is out on the streets and you can negotiate new terms. I feel this is a case of spoiled children throwing a tantrum: they want the pro's of living longer but not the cons of retiring later. It's not realistic to demand nothing changes.

    • One could make an argument that productivity gains over the last couple of decades could support pensions in countries with declining populations. Right now those productivity gains seem to be eaten by someone with those working not seeing adequately proportional benefits.

      I myself am not that much of a fan of trying to keep retirement age super low, and would rather look into 4 day work week, maybe past some age?

      • It's also true the top x% is getting an increasingly bigger piece of the pie, if the protest were aimed at them (more) I'd be less harsh in my opinion I think.