A first victory for Seine-Saint-Denis (93).
In a letter addressed to the elected officials of the department, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced that he was opening the door to experimentation, in this department, from January 2022, of a takeover by the State of the financing of the RSA, the active solidarity income, now largely funded by the departments.
In this department of Seine-Saint-Denis, one of the poorest in France, 85,000 people benefited from this allowance in March 2020, out of a population of around 1.6 million inhabitants.
They could be 90,000 by the end of 2020, recalls the department in a statement sent on Sunday.
Seine-Saint-Denis devoted more than 207 million euros in 2019 (out of a total budget of 532 million) against 195 million euros in 2012, to the payment of the RSA.
An invoice which will increase in 2020. The department, which warns of "
a particularly critical and worrying situation
", anticipates an additional cost of + 6.3% compared to last year.
Compared to other departments of Ile-de-France, the department of Seine-Saint-Denis devotes 36% of its operating expenses to the expenses of individual solidarity allowances, against 27% for the neighboring department of Val-de -Marne (94) or 14% for Hauts-de-Seine (92), another Ile-de-France department in the inner suburbs.
A great victory
Stéphane Troussel, president of the departmental council of Seine-Saint-Denis
This announcement is particularly well received by the president of the Departmental Council of Seine-Saint-Denis, the socialist Stéphane Troussel, who hails “
a great victory
”.
The latter has regularly and for several years denounced the financial asphyxiation generated by the increase in social spending, without compensation by the State.
"
This decision thus offers the prospect of being able in the future to invest more in terms of integration and public policies, in the service of the inhabitants of Seine-Saint-Denis
", he underlined in the press release
.
"However, it
does not resolve the issue of major financial needs for 2021
", adds Stéphane Troussel who asks "for
the creation of an emergency aid fund"
to overcome the crisis.