First victory for the left. Taking advantage of their parliamentary nichethe deputies of the Communist Group (GDR) had this Thursday, June 6, adopted at first reading by the National Assembly, a text introducing the payment family allowances From the first child. With a score of 103 votes for (left and RN, plus some LR votes), and 17 against, essentially elected officials of the central block which refuse this proposal.
Currently, the payment of family allowances is only possible from the second child. This text therefore aims to make this payment possible from the first, and throughout the territory, previously reserved only for ultramarine territories. The bill stipulates that this payment would be made in the form of lump sum aid, amounting from 19 to 75 euros per month, depending on the tax revenues of households.
This measure accompanies a deep societal transformation: families with one -children’s child today represent 3.5 million households in France, that is almost one in five. A figure in constant progression, Fueled by the decrease in the birth rate and life choices influenced by economic and professional constraints. This measure is not a “natalist project” but rather a question of “social justice” ensures Édouard Bénard, communist deputy of Seine-Maritime.
The government opposed this text
But the deputies of the Macronist camp questioned the cost of such a project: “We do not understand how you finance this bill,” said Sylvain Maillard (EPR). “We do not have the budgetary means to pay this reform when we have 5.8 % of public deficit,” supported the deputy for the central block, Charles Sitzenstuhl.
The government has also opposed this text, evidenced by the transition to the tribune of the Minister responsible for autonomy and disability Charlotte Parmentier-Lecocq, who estimated that this measure “would have no redistributive effect for the most modest families and mechanically the payment of family allowances would be absorbed by a reduction to the proportion of the RSA or the activity premium”. And the deputy Pierre Cazeneuve (Renaissance) to add: this project would bring “a surplus of purchasing power to the most favored classes”.
Despite these criticisms, the debates remained relatively calm, except when speaking by the RN group, which defended an amendment aimed at reserving the payment of family allowances to homes where at least one of the two parents is of French nationality. This idea made the whole left and the central block jump. Environmentalists have denounced “foul -smelling ideas”, macronists a “filthy racism”. This amendment was rejected. The text must now continue its legislative career. It will be transmitted to the Senate in the coming weeks.
