Easter obliges, a quick little resurrection. The left wing of Macronie, long missing or even condemned to oblivion, has been increasing its warnings for several days against the government’s plan to reduce the duration of compensation for the unemployed, believing, like the president of the commission of the laws of the Assembly Sacha Houlié, that this is “not the right path”.
The wounds of the immigration law have barely healed when the executive and its majority seem to open a new episode of divisions. The subject of disagreements: the new reform of unemployment insurance envisaged by Gabriel Attal, which should provide for a reduction of “several months” in the duration of compensation for the unemployed, currently 18 months for those under 53, without go below 12 months.
Current rules already considered “severe”
Too hard for Sacha Houlié, who was critical on the set of the RTL/Le Figaro/M6 Grand Jury. “If we reduce the duration of compensation, for what purposes are we doing it? A cost-saving measure. Do I think we should make a saving measure for the unemployed today? I don’t think so,” he said.
The elected official from Vienna argued that the executive had already reformed unemployment insurance twice, in 2019 and 2023, in particular by implementing a “countercyclicality” measure, that is to say that the Compensation conditions tighten when unemployment falls, and become more flexible when it increases. “Is there a need for a new reform on this subject even though we see that unemployment is no longer falling,” he asked, considering that the “rules” were already “severe”.
“From the moment I see that it is not the return to employment which is the motivation, that it is savings which are sought, I say that this is not the right path,” he said. -He insists.
Disappointed Early Walkers
According to the president of the Law Commission, several executives of the majority hold the same line regarding the government’s project, citing in particular the president of the Economic Affairs Commission Stéphane Travert, the vice-president of the Renaissance group Marc Ferracci, or even the Member of Parliament for Paris Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet. All early walkers.
Thus Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet estimated on Friday that “reducing the duration of unemployment compensation for seniors would be unfair”. “This is not commensurate with the problem of the activity rate of seniors in our country,” she argued on X, judging that “the urgency is not to reform unemployment insurance, but to make professions that are not attractive (…) and remove the central obstacles to employment.”
“We must be careful and consistent”
For his part, Marc Ferracci, formerly advisor to the Ministry of Labor, considered that the “priority” was to “touch the eligibility criterion”, that is to say the number of months worked to be compensated. “Afterwards, if the government wants to change the duration, it will have the opportunity to do so,” he said on France 2 on Thursday.
On Sunday, another supporter of the left wing distanced himself: Clément Beaune, former Minister of Transport, removed from the government in January after expressing his reservations on the immigration law.
“We must be careful and consistent,” he stressed on France Info, calling for “more protection” because “the job market is doing less well.” Clément Beaune also recognized that there was a risk of precariousness for the most vulnerable “if we moved towards parameters that are too harsh”.