The Secretary of State for the Budget, Christian Eckert, said that the government will not increase pensions due to the very low inflation. Retirees are preparing to protest on Thursday to demand improvement in their purchasing power.
“Pensions are indexed to inflation. Today inflation is low or zero. So to revalue and increase pensions would be an extraordinarily large expense. (…) It is not expected that we will increase them”, because inflation is expected to zero, said Christian Eckert on LCI.
The level of pensions is traditionally revised upward on the 1st October of each year. But the Commission of Social Security Auditors indicated in its September report that “given the inflation recorded in the price index excluding tobacco, pensions will not be adjusted at 1 October 2016” .
Retirees called to Protest
Several unions have called on pensioners for a day of demonstrations on Thursday to protest against the freezing of pensions.
The consumer prices index (excluding tobacco) increased by 0.6% in the second quarter and 0.2% year on year.
Questioned further on the level of public deficit of France, which is higher than the European average, the Secretary of State also mentioned the French system of pensions.
“In France, this system is public, fully shared. Elsewhere it is private, it is not recognized in public spending. We must stop blaming “, he assured, saying that two-thirds of public spending were associated with the payment of pensions.
