On the state of the nation and its future

The state of the nation is uncertain in many respects. The Prime Minister’s recent speech on the subject was no less so.

Social imbalances have increased in recent years and inequalities have exploded. 30,000 children are at risk of poverty, and it is an exaggerated optimism to counter this only with the simplification of administrative procedures.

While all studies show that the effectiveness of social transfers has decreased in recent years, one searches in vain in the Prime Minister’s speech for a reference to any improvement at the level of social transfers.

The announcements in the tax area (with the exception of the announcements on the tax scale and tax category 1a) even bear the risk of increasing inequalities in Luxembourg and making low- and middle-income households to carry an even greater part of the tax burden

The statements on labour law are also worrying and are in line with the coalition agreement: making maternity leave more flexible, part-time family leave for those who can afford it, the organisation of working hours or a new regulation of Sunday working.

Does the Prime Minister (and his Labour Minister) need to be reminded that the role of labour law is to protect the employee in an unbalanced power relationship with their boss?

The role of labour law is not to strengthen the competitiveness of companies. Moreover, given the growth in employment over the last decade, it cannot seriously be argued that current labour law is an obstacle to business growth.

Neoliberal policies and social deterioration, particularly in pensions, have brought France to the brink of the abyss

On the contrary, there are many gaps that need to be closed in order to better protect employees. Not a word, by the way, about the urgently needed increase in the social minimum wage due to the European recommendations and the highest working poor rate in the European Union. Nor about the necessary reform to increase the coverage of collective agreements, which is also required by the same EU directive.

Finally, a word about pensions: Although the Prime Minister is pleased about the increase in life expectancy, which incidentally is not the same in all socio-professional categories, he does not draw the logical conclusion from this that more resources must be made available to cope with the ageing of the population.

It should be remembered that the 2012 pension reform has already led to a huge deterioration in pensions, which means a loss of 300,000 to 400,000 euros for today’s young people over the course of their retirement career.

Finally, is it worth remembering that similar neoliberal policies and social deterioration, particularly in terms of pensions, have brought France to the brink of the abyss? The results of the European elections are probably still fresh enough to have not yet been forgotten.

Nora Back,
President of the OGBL

The article was published in Aktuell (3/2024)