Allowances, Vitale cards, retirees abroad… Gabriel Attal reveals his measures

After tax evasion, the executive is tackling social fraud. Allowances, Vitale cards, retirees abroad… Gabriel Attal unveiled on Monday a vast plan of struggle which should make it possible to save money and double the adjustments by 2027.

“Social fraud, like tax evasion, is a form of hidden tax on working French people”, declared the Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts in an interview with Parisian. Fraud to social benefits alone is estimated at between 6 and 8 billion euros per year according to the Court of Auditors.

Ten years to make this project a success

The minister is giving himself 10 years to carry out the project, with a first step, namely to have in 2027 “twice as many results as in 2022”. Adjustments have already increased by 35% over the past five years. For this, he promises the creation of a thousand additional jobs during this five-year period and an investment of one billion euros in information systems.

The Minister details a whole series of measures at more or less short notice. One of them, the merger of the Vitale card with the identity card, has apparently not been the subject of consultation within the government. An executive from the Ministry of the Interior reacted immediately and warned against such a measure “technically impossible and for which the Cnil is deeply opposed”. According to him, “the solution remains the biometric Vitale card which has been voted and which must be put in place”. But the minister seems to have abandoned this idea given its cost. On the Vitale card/identity card merger, a prefiguration mission will be launched by the summer with conclusions expected by the end of the year.

Urssaf resources will increase

Gabriel Attal also wants to “strengthen” the conditions of residence in France “to benefit from social allowances”. It will now be necessary to spend nine months of the year in the country, against six currently planned, to benefit from family allowances or the minimum old age. The same goes for the APLs, which only require eight months of presence for the time being. The Minister also intends to increase the means of Urssaf to limit fraud to employers’ contributions.

Bercy also wants to target retirees living outside European borders in order to better identify those who have died but continue to receive benefits. Gabriel Attal also recalls that more than a million pensions are paid abroad, half of them outside Europe, and 300,000 in Algeria.

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