PARIS (MNI) – French Budget Minister Francois Baroin and Labor
Minister Eric Woerth confirmed Wednesday that the hike planned in the
retirement age would not be modified, despite the growing public
protest.
The government “will not move” on the level of pensions, on the
level of pension contributions or on the two-year increase in the age of
retirement, Baroin said in a radio interview.
The reform bill is “fair” because it is not ideological or dogmatic
but rather a response to the demographic reality of an ageing society,
Baroin explained. Yet the dialogue with the protesting trade unions “is
not interrupted.”
To back down on the age hike would unravel the financial balance of
the planned reform, Woerth said in a separate radio interview.
“We must accept to work longer,” he said. “Two years more work is
fundamentally less than many countries in Europe have demanded of their
citizens.”
Woerth did not rule out further amendments to other parameters of
the government’s bill, as long as “the debate in the Senate is
continuing.”
–Paris newsroom +331 4271 5540; Email: stephen@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: MFFBU$,M$F$$$,M$X$$$,MGX$$$]
