A single platform bringing together all calls to emergency numbers will be tested from 2022 and for two years at the scale of a wider region, announced Emmanuel Macron, Saturday, October 16. The Head of State spoke to the National Congress of Firefighters, the day after a demonstration in Paris by firefighters to obtain more resources.
By announcing this experiment, which will test three types of platforms for calls to the 15th, 17th and 18th, Emmanuel Macron acts in advance of a flagship provision of the Matras bill, intended to improve in particular the status of volunteer firefighters and which should be voted in a few weeks. Among the 250,000 firefighters in France, 80% are volunteers.
While the single platform has been debated in France for years, the Head of State welcomed the choice of the experiment. “The only objective is to improve the care of victims, together, red and white”, he said, with reference to firefighters and health workers.
Concretely, will be tested:
- a single platform where calls to 15 (SAMU), 17 (emergency police) and 18 (firefighters) will arrive;
- another only for calls to 15 and 18;
- a third grouping together calls to 15 and medical emergencies.
The objective is to send the most suitable help to callers as quickly as possible, knowing that several European countries have already grouped calls for help in a single number, 112.
Revaluation of reimbursement for ambulance deficiencies
The head of state also approved in advance other provisions of the Matras law. He thus confirmed the abolition of the employer wage premium on the fire premium allowing an average monthly gain of 45 euros. This measure will be included in the bill on the financing of Social Security, he said.
He also announced the revaluation of the reimbursement of ambulance deficiencies (when firefighters intervene in place of ambulance attendants) to at least 200 euros instead of 124 euros currently. Civil security will be integrated into the law on internal security, he also confirmed, with the key to renewing the entire helicopter fleet and ordering two additional helicopters in early 2022.
Finally, Emmanuel Macron promised the extension of the new loyalty and recognition bonus to all those who have more than fifteen years of service (against twenty currently), as well as the creation of the quality of ward of the Republic for children. firefighters killed in the line of duty.
“Exceptional difficulties”
The head of state arrived in Marseille on Friday afternoon, for a first progress report on the “Marseille en grand” plan that he announced on September 2, in order to come to the aid of a city that is experiencing “Exceptional difficulties”, in his own words, including dilapidated schools and a largely inadequate public transport network.
“The difficulties here are so exceptional and the potentials so great that there is something to be invented”, launched Friday evening Emmanuel Macron, in the middle of a hundred young people and entrepreneurs, before leaving for a dinner with the mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan (Socialist Party), the president of the metropolis, Martine Vassal (Les Republicans), and representatives of the prefecture and the region. This dinner was “Fruitful”, according to Mr. Payan’s entourage: he allowed “To work well and address points of detail”.
Friday morning, before the arrival of the President of the Republic, the mayor of Marseille had repeated to wait for answers from the government, in particular on its school renovation plan, estimated at 1.2 billion euros. His entourage did not specify on Saturday whether things had progressed on this file. None of the participants in this dinner had yet officially expressed itself on Saturday at midday.