Sarkozy signs the law: French retire at 62, not 60

[onehandle]

Source: AP

PARIS – Retiring at 62 became law in France on Wednesday, a victory for President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government and a defeat for the unions that waged massive strikes and street protests to try to stop the austerity measure.

The law was published Wednesday in the government's official journal, meaning Sarkozy has signed it and it has gone into effect. The constitutional watchdog had approved the plan Tuesday after France's parliament passed it Oct. 27.

The success gives Sarkozy a boost on the international scene as France prepares to take over the leadership of the Group of 20 major economic powers starting Friday.

French union workers and others angry over having to work an extra two years had disrupted train and air travel, caused gasoline shortages and allowed garbage to pile up in the southern city of Marseille. More than a million people had repeatedly taken to the streets in protest.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101110/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_france_retirement_reform_5

---

'He has not yet announced his intention to run in the 2012 presidential election'

I don't think he should bother.

[pattmarty]

1. Now it's the US turn to fuck their citizens. In early Dec the "catfood".........

...........commission will offer their "recommendations" on cutting the deficit with most cuts expected to be in SS & Medicare, not defense or "security". This will be voted on by a lame duck Congress in a strictly up or down vote with NO AMENDMENTS. I believe the French got off easy compared to the fucking the American people are going to get. If they raise the age to 70, exactly what will be the percentage of Americans collecting ANY SS compared to now? I saw on another post where a poster said his dad lived 1 yr after collecting and BOTH my parents never collected one goddamn dime and they were 60 and 64. We will have to wait and see what they recommend, but my guess in these times it ain't gonna be good.

[Doremus]

9. My MIL lived one month past her 65th bday and collected exactly ONE check.

After working her entire life. :cry:

[Ginto]

12. And that's exactly what it was designed for.

:(

[KillCapitalism]

2. If he runs & they re-elect him in 2012, they're morons.

He wants to turn France into the US.

If they re-elect him, then obviously the French want to be like us. Maybe we could convince Sarah Palin to be his VP so we could get rid of her.

[raccoon]

3. What kind of "austerity measures" will Sarkozy and his friends have to deal with?

Now, yall quit laughing!!

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[fasttense]

5. AP is only talking about the early retirement age.

Everyone is buying into the AP RepubliCON spin. What the law really does is change the full retirement age from 65 to 67 years old. The ages mentioned in the article refer to EARLY Retirement. Most French people can not afford to retire early. They have so many quarters (or something similar) to pay in that takes them well past the 62 year early retirement age.

So, this is pure spin. The law sets an age that is currently older than America's retirement age.

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. Actually, those born after 1960 have to work until they are 67 to get full Social Security benefits:

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/retire2/agereduction.htm

[Yo_Mama]

18. Ours is 67 too

For retirees like me, that is. And it is going to be phased in for the French also. Basically the French bill makes their system a lot more like ours.

[Catherina]

23. Thank you. n/t

[pampango]

6. BBC: Anger as French pension age rises from 60 to 62

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11725551

France's opposition has attacked President Nicolas Sarkozy for signing into law a reform raising the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62.

The nationwide strikes and street protests which accompanied the reform's passage through parliament made it one of the biggest battles of his career. There is no doubt the passage of the bill is a defining moment in Mr Sarkozy's presidency - it was a key part of his reform agenda and his credibility was on the line.

And his haste in signing the bill into law was surely connected to his burning impatience to reshuffle his cabinet in a bid to improve his own record low approval ratings, our correspondent adds.

Trade unions held an eighth round of rallies and marches in French cities on Saturday but numbers were sharply down on previous demonstrations. Both government and union estimates showed that Saturday's attendance was about a third that seen in mid-October.

[Moostache]

14. The unstated lesson in all of this?

The French protests - as impressive and large as they were - were about as effective at preventing the move as the anti-war protests in the US pre-Iraq invasion. People in the streets is of absolutely ZERO concern to the corporate overlords....they actually find it quite fucking quaint I dare say.

You want REAL change? You want to see the oligarchy of the global corporatcracy tremble? Then its time to start looking to an entirely different kind of French protest...the French Revolution. Let them eat cake indeed...

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. Policies are changed at the ballot box, not on the streets

If French voters don't like this, they need to elect leader at the next election who will reverse this.

[Nostradammit]

19. Policies were definitely changed by the French Revolution

unquestionably.

The uber-rich seem to need a reminder every few generations it seems.

[villager]

22. Yes, those civil rights protestors certainly wasted their time with all those sit-ins and marches!

n/t

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

26. After all these years still clueless. What a pity. nt

[florida08]

8. austerity is masking

the demise of the middle classes and the rise of the global oligarchy

[Yeahyeah]

10. Hey the French are going to have to be evened out with everybody else just like everybody else.

Except for the super rich,generals,and politicians.

[xchrom]

11. May the next election cycle see the end of sarkozy. Nt

[Blue_Tires]

17. +1

[JackRiddler]

13. AP is a fully Soviet press. They always push the same lie about "62".

The French austerity measure raises the retirement age from 65 to 67. The early retirement age, with partial benefits (something that also exists here) goes up from 60 to 62. The corporate media have always used the 60 to 62 figure, in all coverage, almost never mentioning the 65 to 67 figure.

[Poll_Blind]

25. +1

PB

[FlyByNight]

16. This is the French example that US oligarchs will follow...

but not healthcare.

:mad:

[defendandprotect]

20. Fascist right wing wins again .....

[Courtesy Flush]

21. Someone explain the French system to me

Where I work, we have a 30 year retirement system. Non-degreed employees sometimes are hired at a young age, and make 30 years at age 49.

If a person has put in the years, and saved for retirement, what are their options if they are not 62 years old?

Seems like a law like this would discourage people from entering the workforce at an early age.

[jancantor]

27. Where I work

it's full retirement at 25 yrs, early at 20. You also gotta be at least 55 to get full. So, minimally you could work from 30 to 55 and get full retirement. Personally, I am not a fan of SS for ME (don't want to dismantle it...), so I max out my deferred comp etc. because I aint waiting anywhere near that long :)

[Canuckistanian]

24. This is going to cause waves for a decade or more

This is France's equivalent to Reagan firing the Air Traffic Controllers. People will be angry and they will NOT forget.

Another blow to labor rights.