Will the debate on the number of beneficiaries of the minimum pension of 1,200 euros per month provided for in the pension reform come to an end?
In a reply by email from Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labour, addressed to Jérôme Guedj, deputy for Essonne PS-Nupes and published by the latter on his Twitter account, we can read that “according to the generations, between 10,000 and 20,000 people cross the threshold of 1,200 euros for this measure”. Two to four times less than the figures presented by the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt in mid-February.
The deputy – who is co-chairman of the mission to evaluate the public accounts of social security – went to the Ministry of Social Affairs on February 16 to obtain the figures for the pension reform.
In a tweet, Jérôme Guedj underlines that the minister “finally acknowledges having inflated the figures: on February 15 at @franceinter, there were ‘40,000 new retirees at 1,200 euros due to the increase in the minimum contribution rate’. After my check, he admits it will be from ‘ 10,000 to 20,000′”.
And he continues: “And suggesting, as he continues to do, that the increase in the number of retirees to 1,200 euros is the result of the reform, is an abuse. It is the natural course of things… We will continue the investigations.”
The confrontation between the two men on this issue has been taking place since the beginning of the debates on the pension reform in the National Assembly.
“You lose the pedals”
Pressed by the Nupes group to accurately quantify the number of new beneficiaries of the contributory minimum, the minimum pension at 1,200 euros, Olivier Dussopt stated on February 15 that “40,000 more people each year” will exceed the mark of 85% of the minimum wage.
“When they tell me how many, thanks to this reform, will exceed 85% of the Smic? We have a forecast, it happened to me last night: 40,000 more people each year,” he continued. “Why 40,000 out of 200,000? Because those who will be below 85% of the Smic are those with incomplete careers,” the minister explained at the time.
Figures immediately questioned by Jérôme Guedj who therefore asked Social Security for documents and tables of figures on the consequences of the pension reform. And as a matter of order, ask the minister to support his figures on the minimum pension, questioning the “sincerity” of the data presented.
“We did not find answers either in the impact study carried out by the government, or in the returns from the ministers” despite “our repeated requests,” the deputy had previously explained to AFP.
Olivier Dussopt’s response was swift: “You’ve been losing control for a few days” and “you don’t know how to put the icing on yourself,” he told him in the chamber. Before revising his figures downward in the letter of February 23 addressed to the deputy.
Source: BFM TV
