The National Assembly urgently adopted on Thursday the extension until the end of 2024 of an exemption that allows restaurant vouchers to be used to purchase all food products, even those that are not directly consumable, in a context of still high inflation.
This broad vote by the Assembly (117 in favor, 1 against) must still be confirmed in the Senate. This exemption, which was due to end on December 31, 2023, allows some 5.4 million employees in France to use their “restaurant vouchers” to buy non-consumable products on shelves that must be prepared (flour, pasta, rice, meat). . etc…).
On the ministerial benches, Olivia Grégoire (Commerce) once again supported the extension of the system, while “food inflation is important, although it has continued to decline for several months.” The Minister and the majority MPs who presented the text, on the contrary, warned against a broader extension or a longer exemption.
Recognizing that the Assembly was legislating “urgently” approximately a month before the expiration of the exemption, the president of the Economic Affairs committee, Guillaume Kasbarian (Renaissance), called for adopting the text as it is to find a quick solution in the Senate. While the opposition largely embraced the measure, everyone deplored a late reaction.
“Food vouchers are not a gift”
Thibault Bazin (LR) even denounced an “attempt to rewrite history” by the government, favorable to the measure although he did not propose including it in his 2024 budget project. Benjamin Lucas (environmental group) criticized the “amateurism” of the government “every time taken by surprise.”
“You manage to present us (this exemption) as a gift, but the meal vouchers are not a gift,” thundered Sophia Chikirou (LFI), arguing that they were partly financed by employees and criticizing the commissions received by the management companies. The Assembly rejected amendments from the left or the RN aimed at extending or perpetuating the exemption.
Olivia Grégoire promised a debate in the “first half of 2024” for broader food stamp reform. Restaurant owners are especially concerned about an even greater shift in the use of these bills toward mass distribution, to their detriment. Continuing to use it to purchase food would run the risk of causing the device to be lost, the national food voucher commission, a joint body that oversees this means of payment, warned on Tuesday.
Source: BFM TV
