On the evening of November 2, the annual serial lectures on cutting-edge hot topics in the field of labor, organized by the International Office of Cooperation and Exchange of our university and co-organized by the School of Public Policy and Management, were held online. Han Zhuang, a researcher at the Institute of International Law at the University of Poitiers in France, was invited as the keynote speaker and gave a report entitled "French Pension Reform". More than 130 experts, scholars, and students from both inside and outside the university attended the lecture online. The lecture was hosted by Associate Professor Guo Peng from the School of Public Policy and Management.
During the lecture, Han Zhuang introduced the French pension reform, including the reasons for the reform, the complexity of the French pension insurance system, and the ideas for reforming the pension insurance system. He believes that the factors that led to the reform of the French pension insurance system include political factors brought about by French President Macron incorporating pension reform into his election manifesto, economic factors mainly aimed at increasing France's international solvency, international factors compared to the delayed retirement system in other European countries, and financial factors resulting from the long-term imbalance between pension insurance revenues and expenditures. He combined the historical background of France to analyze the historical trajectory of the French pension system since the Middle Ages and the underlying collateral patterns behind the development of the pension system, demonstrating the inequality in retirement age and welfare benefits among different occupational groups under the special pension system background in French history and the financial burden this has placed on France. Subsequently, two ideas from the French pension reform were introduced, including a point-based pension system based on equal rights and a delayed retirement system based on benefits. He analyzed the social issues that the French point-based pension system and delayed retirement system may bring, as well as the inability of the existing pension insurance system to adapt to the current aging society. He listed changes in statutory retirement age, statutory contribution years, pension valuation, etc., in the pension insurance legislation over the years, triggering deep thoughts among the audience.
In the discussion session, Dr. Cai Zehao from the School of Public Policy and Management of our university made insightful comments and responses from the perspectives of the transformation of labor rights to social rights in pension insurance legal relations, the balance between the time span of pension insurance and the sustainability of funds, and the unity and separation of rights and obligations in pension insurance. He introduced the current situation and existing problems of China's pension insurance system, emphasizing the urgent need for legislative and institutional changes in the future.
During the interactive session, Researcher Han Zhuang had in-depth discussions with the participants on issues such as the impact of linking pension insurance with wage level and price index on the consumption level and social security of French retirees, the reform parameters and difficulties of French pension insurance, the game and choice in the view of French pension insurance reform, the impact of French delayed retirement policy on young people's employment, and the strength and role of French trade unions in negotiations with enterprises and organizations.
(International Office of Cooperation and Exchange, School of Public Policy and Management)
Speaker's Profile:
Dr. Han Zhuang, Ph.D. from the University of Poitiers in France, currently serves as a researcher and director of the Asia Department at the Institute of International Law at the University of Poitiers, specializing in comparative law research. He is also a part-time lecturer at the School of Law of Paris-Sud University, Sciences Po Lyon, and EMS Lyon, as well as a special researcher at the Institut d'Asie Orientale (IAO) of the CNRS and a judicial expert at the Court of Appeal of Poitiers in France.