Tax reform, pension reform, plans for an Agency for Medicines and Health Products, and the creation of a future national distribution and logistics centre. The CGFP (Confédération générale de la fonction publique) had no shortage of subjects to “denounce the government's handling of such important issues,” insisted its president, , at a press conference held on Friday 25 April.
criticised “the way discussions on pensions have gone so far. The government launched the ‘Schwätz mat!’ campaign and the online survey that followed did not involve the public. Given the very low turnout, the topics reserved for the expert roundtables that followed were by no means representative. Unfortunately, in the run-up to the debates on old-age provision, repeated and deliberate attempts have been made to pit the older and younger generations, as well as the public and private sectors, against each other. This approach is not helpful,” Wolff pointed out.
An upcoming letter to Gilles Roth
Whilst the minister for social security, (CSV), had announced in March that she hoped to , “she told us yesterday [Thursday, editor’s note] that she is going to present a draft text for the September-October autumn term. We’ve had the ‘Schwätz mat!,’ there are a lot of ideas, and I think that if we want to take them all into consideration, it will take time.” The CGFP notes, however, that on the “hot topic… of pension reform, the government has not received a mandate from the electorate to do this.” Contacted by Paperjam on Friday, the communications department of the social security ministry stated that “the government plans to present the broad outlines before the summer and then table a bill in the autumn.”
“Unlike the UEL, we support the youth associations in their demand that years of study should continue to be taken into account when calculating retirement age in the future. For us, an increase in the statutory retirement age is out of the question. With regard to the government's planned subsidy for supplementary pensions, the CGFP expresses its concerns because this economic model excludes financially fragile households. Finally, there is an explicit warning against using the €30bn in pension reserves for other purposes, such as military armament.”
The CGFP also announced on Friday that it would be sending a letter in the next few days to finance minister (CSV), “so that we are immediately involved in the development of the tax reform. It is particularly encouraging that the finance minister, according to his own statements, is trying to find a consensus with the social partners. It remains to be seen whether this intention is serious,” the union said.
In the area of housing, we are arguing for new tax measures that will have a profound impact on the middle class.
“In addition to pension reform, we also wanted to speak to the press this Friday because of tax reform. The government’s initial ideas may come back before the summer, which is why we wanted once again to show that we wanted to be involved from the outset and reiterate our demands. As far as the proposed reform is concerned, we are first and foremost asking for significant relief for private households, as capital is taxed too little compared with labour. Apparently, there will only be one tax bracket in future. For us, it goes without saying that people currently in tax bracket 2 will not be subject to any additional financial burden as a result of this reform. With this in mind, we are advocating--if necessary--a transitional period to ensure that no one is disadvantaged,” said the CGFP president.
The CGFP also insists on an automatic adjustment of the tax scale to inflation. “The famous ‘middle class crisis’ must be alleviated by introducing additional income brackets. In the area of housing, we are calling for new tax measures that will have a profound impact on the middle class. For example, the heavily reduced VAT rate for primary residences must be doubled to at least €100,000.”
Bills 8399 and 8491 in the crosshairs
Another topic raised: the two bills 8399 and 8491, which provide for the creation of a “Luxembourg Medicines and Health Products Agency” and a “National Sales and Logistics Centre.” Wolff is also president of the CHFEP (Chambre des fonctionnaires et employés publics), which--in its two opinions published on 10 March--.
“These two entities, which were previously subordinate to the state-run health department, are to be outsourced to public establishments,” Wolff pointed out on Friday 25 April. “We consider this practice to be unconstitutional. Article 41 of the constitution states that public health is the responsibility of the state. However, if the government gets its way, these two entities should be managed according to private law criteria.” The CGFP is not ruling out legal action if the texts are passed as they stand.
This article was originally published in .