The National Assembly voted on Tuesday night the key measure of the unemployment insurance reform project, paving the way for a possible modulation of the duration of compensation according to the situation of the labor market, under the protests of the left and the RN.
In the first reading, the deputies approved by 203 votes against 165 the first article of this bill. They will continue on Wednesday the examination of this text, scheduled for a session in the Senate on October 25. This article makes it possible to expand the current rules of unemployment insurance, the result of a disputed reform of Macron’s first five-year term.
It also opens the possibility, by decree, of modulating unemployment insurance so that it is “stricter when there are too many vacancies, more generous when unemployment is high”, in the words of Emmanuel Macron during the presidential campaign. After a consultation phase of six to eight weeks with the social partners, the Government will decide by decree the form that this modulation will take, for its entry into force at the beginning of 2023.
The Labor Minister, Olivier Dussopt, also confirmed in the chamber a “very differentiated application for overseas territories”, hardest hit by unemployment. The deputies approved an amendment by Olivier Serva (Liot) to this effect, after a brief muddle over the order of examination of the amendments in session.
Full employment target
The executive insists that the reform is urgent, due to the hiring difficulties in sectors such as hotels, restaurants and construction. It makes it one of the conditions to reach the goal of full employment in 2027, that is, an unemployment rate of around 5% compared to 7.4% today. Renaissance MP Karl Olive advocated a “society of full employment and work”, rather than “the ‘stay at home’ society when you can go to work”. Left and RN crush a “blank check” left to the government by this reform.
This text “declares war on the unemployed”, thundered the leader of the deputies of the LFI, Mathilde Panot. “The assisted are not those whom you persecute, but those who sit on high, before whom you bow down”, she launched to the majority. RN Caroline Colombier challenged the government’s “authoritarian method”.
The tone rose when the communist Sébastien Jumel reproached the Macronists for having chosen as rapporteur for this text on unemployment insurance the “deputy of the French in Switzerland” Marc Ferracci (elected from the 6th constituency of the French abroad), ” Can you imagine the disconnection! Philippe Vigier (MoDem) and Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet (Renaissance) denounced “personal attacks”, while all deputies have the “same legitimacy”.
Source: BFM TV
