Bruno Retailleau proposes a pension reform with departure at 63 and a reduction of 7% per year

Pulling the rug out from under Édouard Philippe. This was the objective that the LR presidential candidate, Bruno Retailleau, had set for himself, to try to catch up in the polls with his competitor Horizons, who is slow to come out of the woods on his pension reform. A clarification all the more delayed because, if the mayor of Le Havre wanted to remove the plaster of 67 years that his adversaries stick to his skin, the program “The Hour of Truth” where he was to present it next Thursday was postponed to October 8 due to a presidential interview. Enough to constitute a window of opportunity for the boss of the Republicans, who saw this breach as a boon to relaunch himself. Because since the suspension of the Borne reform in the spring of 2026, the fate of which was referred to the presidential election, the question of pensions promises to liven up the campaign.

With the ambition to “save the pension system for retirees”, not only “so that they are not impoverished today and tomorrow”, but also for the younger generations, the Vendée senator wants to combine “freedom” and “responsibility”. And this, around two ages. First, a “minimum starting age” set at 63 years, with exceptions for cases of arduousness, long careers, illness or disability, criteria that Bruno Retailleau undertakes to “return to discussion in the branches and with social partners” to determine the professions concerned. And for good reason: “When you work with a jackhammer on the public highway, it’s not the same when you work in an office,” he said.

Skip the ad

A reduction of 7% per year in the event of departure at age 63

Apart from these exceptions, everyone would remain free to leave from the age of 63, but at the cost of a reduction of “7% per year”. Second age level, 65 years old. “Even if you do not have all your annuities, all your quarters, you will be able to retire with a full retirement rate (…), a full retirement,” says the former Minister of the Interior. In other words: “By leaving before, you are free, but your retirement will be smaller, and at 65, this is important, you will leave with a full pension”, and not at 67 as currently. A measure which will benefit, it is said, women, “and in particular mothers”, often forced to wait until this age due to “broken careers”.

Also read Guillaume Tabard: “Pension reform, Édouard Philippe’s moment of truth”

On the other hand, Bruno Retailleau warned that this age of 65 could “move”, wanting to establish a relationship “between the starting age at full rate and life expectancy”. A link already included in the Labor Code by the Fillon law of 2003. Clearly, if life expectancy increases, the retirement age at full rate will also increase. Way according to him to avoid “a psychodrama” every ten years.

More broadly, its reform should make it possible to “save pay-as-you-go retirement” and make “40 billion cumulative savings over five years”. The boss of LR also proposes the introduction of a capitalized pension for new generations. “It is fundamental for young people but also for our companies if, tomorrow, we do not want American or foreign funds to buy them,” argued Bruno Retailleau. And to insist: “What is important is that this pillar of capitalization is not for today, it is not for today’s retirees.”