Social assistance, pensions, civil servants: the main measures of the 2019 budget

MIL OSI Translation. Government of the Republic of France statements from English to French –

In an interview conducted by the Sunday Journal, the Prime Minister unveiled the main budget measures for 2019.

Presented at the end of September, the finance bill will be "a budget of transformation and coherence, which will respect the commitments" declared the Prime Minister during an interview for the JDD.

This 2019 budget, based on a growth forecast of 1.7%, focuses on activity and work to ensure the prosperity of France. "We want the French to come back to work, that this job pays, and that it pays better and better."

Evolution of expenditure

In order to transform public action, the Government will reduce the funding of policies that are not effective. For example, "on housing or subsidized jobs, most of which do not provide a viable job afterwards."

Other commitments of the Government will be held and will become visible before the end of the year:

Phasing out of the housing tax; Complete abolition of employee contributions on unemployment insurance and sickness; Abolition of employee contributions for overtime worked as of September 1, 2019. This measure applies to all employees, both private and public. "For a person paid to SMIC, this measure will represent on average more than 200 euros extra per year."

Social benefits

All social benefits will be revalued in 2019 and 2020. "No social benefits will be reduced", nor frozen.

Some services will even benefit from an exceptional revaluation:

The activity bonus will be increased by 80 euros at the Smic by the end of the five-year period and by 20 euros by November. The minimum old age will be increased by 100 euros by the end of the five-year period to reach 900 euros per month. It has already benefited from an increase of 30 euros last April, and will benefit from a new boost of 35 euros in January next and in January 2020. The Allowance for adults with disabilities (AAH) will be revalued by 100 euros. 'here the end of the quinquennate including 40 euros in November, to be increased to 900 euros per month. Personalized housing assistance (APL), family allowances and old-age pensions will grow more slowly, by 0.3% per year in 2019 and 2020. This is in line with the average change over the last four years.

The Prime Minister underlined that the Government assumes "a policy of transformation and control of expenditure which privileges the remuneration of the activity and which breaks with the undifferentiated increase of the allocations […] We develop new social protections, like the poverty plan or the remains at zero charge on glasses, dentures or hearing aids ".

The reduction in the number of civil servants

The goal of the President of the Republic will be held: 50,000 positions will be eliminated in the state civil service by 2022. "In 2019, we anticipate about 4,500 job cuts." By 2020, the figure will be greater than 10,000.

"The reduction in the number of civil servants is not the foundation but the consequence of a transformation of public action that is gaining momentum over time," said the Prime Minister.

There will also be recruitments: "over 2,000 additional agents in the police, gendarmerie and ISB, 1,300 to justice, because these are priorities."

Daily allowances

Every year, more than 10 billion euros are devoted to the compensation of arrested employees. This volume is growing by more than 4% per year. In 3 years, the number of days compensated increased from 11 to 12 per year and per employee of the private sector.

Thus, "the issue of sick leave is considerable. […] All the actors of the system must be around the table to find the means to contain this progression." The Prime Minister rejected the hypothesis of a brutal measure of transfer to companies before recalling that we must find together a solution to contain these expenses.

Pension reform

A timetable and a method have been defined: "a first phase of discussions has been initiated by the High Commissioner, Jean-Paul Delevoye, there will be a second phase and a bill will be presented in the course of 2019."

The Prime Minister recalled the objective of this reform: "to ensure that upon arrival, and it will inevitably be very progressive, each euro contributed gives the same rights to all French."

The parliamentary calendar

At first, the Pact law will be examined from the end of September because "we want to focus for this fall our action on the economic sites."

"The constitutional revision will be presented as soon as possible during the regular session. It's a lag of a few months at most. "

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is a translation. Please forgive us should the grammar and / or sentence structure not be perfect.