The government of Emmanuel Macron wants it to be known that, in the open debate on the left on whether to defend the beneficiaries of subsidies against any stigmatization for not working, their commitment is to the working middle classes.
"We are going to concentrate our aid more on those French who work and who get up early"stressed this Sunday the Minister of Finance, Gabriel Attal, who insisted that "We must act to promote work in our country". In an interview with the BFMTV channel, Attal insisted that it is about focusing on those who "they work hard". In another interview with Le Parisien, he repeated that "our priority should be the French who work or who want to work". Asked about the controversy surrounding the call "right to laziness", the head of the Treasury referred to those who have defended this concept, and specifically cited the environmentalist deputy Sandrine Rousseau. Although he pointed out that "not to be underestimated" to those who receive subsidies, added that he defends "the value work", which is in the program with which Emmanuel Macron was re-elected in April as president of France. Among the concrete measures in the direction of these working middle classes, Attal noted that in the budgets for next year an increase in the tax exemption for families who have to pay for their children’s day care has been voted and that the tax on rent will drop by 6,200 million euros.
"The French expect those who move the country forward to be valued. I regret that some on the left prefer to defend the ‘right to be lazy’", pointed out this former socialist. The minister, who evaluated the fraud of social assistance in "several billion euros" although there have been "progress" in the fight against this phenomenon, he indicated that to avoid some of the mechanisms of this fraud, from July 1, 2023, it will not be possible to pay in foreign bank accounts.
"These payments, for which there are sometimes doubts about the existence of the beneficiary, represent 150 million euros in five years"accurate.
The same line is the one maintained by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, who in another interview with the France 3 channel defended the unemployment benefit reform, which provides for a reduction in the compensation period when the unemployment rate is below 9%, as is the case now, to encourage the unemployed to look for a job. Le Maire said that, beyond reducing the unemployment benefit deficit, the objective of this reform -in practice with the fear of losing the benefit- is to put to work between 100,000 and 150,000 people.
On the other hand, the Minister of Finance pointed out that the bill on immigration that the Government is preparing, although it will consider the possibility of giving papers to foreigners who are going to work in sectors in tension due to lack of manpower, that will have a exceptional.
"Labor immigration should only be a last resort"affirmed Le Maire, who emphasized that his objective is "return to work the French who are away from employment"either due to a lack of qualification or because they live in an area where there are no jobs available.