France unveils government plan to reform pension system

PARIS: French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe introduced a government plan to reform the country’s complex pension system on Wednesday in the face of fierce resistance from trade unions.

The reforms have sparked ongoing nationwide strikes that have crippled rail transport, shut down factories and slowed public services around the country. French media reported Wednesday that 75 per cent of long distance trains remain out of service. Introducing the reforms, Philippe said the time had come to build a universal pension system. “We are proposing a new pact between generations. We want a system that is the same for all French without exceptions.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has invested enormous political capital in streamlining the French pension system, saying that a single, points-based system would be fairer and give each pensioner the same rights for each euro contributed. The current system has 42 separate pension schemes. Transport workers, for example, enjoy early retirement age than other sector. Under the the new plan, workers from all sectors would retire at the same age. France’s official retirement age is currently 62, one of the lowest among developed countries.

Premier Philippe has tried to reassure workers in sectors enjoying early retirement or generous pensions that the reforms would be applied gradually.

Philippe said women would be “big winners” of the new system, as their current pensions are half as much as men.