The French government has moved to tackle the tough issue of retirement in Europe, where workers are reluctantly coming around to the idea that they will have to work longer due to the continent’s shaky economy.

French workers—perhaps aware of the coming changes—are the most pessimistic of EU member states about their prospects of early retirement, according to a poll of 7,500 European workers by Aon Consulting.

Their fears were realized on Wednesday when French Labour Minister Eric Woerth announced a gradual increase in the retirement age from 60 to 62, in addition to tax hikes for the wealthy.

“There is no magic trick when it comes to pensions,” Woerth told reporters. “We cannot ignore the fact that the French population is aging. We have to confront this fact.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is seeking to staunch the bleeding from the state’s pension system and safeguard the nation’s AAA credit rating.

The reforms will be complete by 2018, and the government is expecting heavy resistance from labour groups. However, even with the changes, France will still have one of the earliest legal retirement ages in the developed world. Germany has announced plans to raise its retirement age to 67, while Britain and Italy are aiming for 65.

Retirement is a key issue in Europe, as Aon’s poll suggests that 29% of workers would rather retire earlier and receive fewer benefits than have the retirement age extended.

Aon’s Oliver Rowlands, head of retirement, Europe, Middle East and Africa, explains that as the current wave of austerity measures erodes the paternalistic culture that defines many European retirement systems, workers need to take matters into their own hands.

“Recent events have shown that the value of defined contribution pension funds can go down sharply in a recession, which has come as a shock to many people used to gold-plated defined benefit pensions and generous state benefits,” he says. “As responsibility for retirement savings has moved from the state and corporations to the individual, people are increasingly realizing they need to take an active interest and take steps, such as delaying retirement, to make sure they are financially secure in retirement.”

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