In a final vote in the Senate, Parliament definitively adopted a law on Wednesday for "aging well", without masking its concerns about the future of the autonomy sector, still deprived of a financial programming law on great age yet promised for a long time.
The bill on “measures to build a society of aging well and autonomy” arrived at the end of a long parliamentary journey: after the National Assembly last week, the Senate approved it very largely, despite the abstention of socialists and ecologists and the opposition of communists.
But the support given to this text is far from being a blank check for the government. On all benches, impatience has in fact won over parliamentarians who fear seeing the executive stick to this law deemed insufficient.
Pending a multi-year programming law on old age
“It is a waiting text,” confirmed Les Républicains senator Jean Sol, urging the government to “give stakeholders concrete visibility on the means that will be implemented” in the future. For many, in fact, the challenge of the aging of the population calls for other, much more ambitious legislative vehicles: firstly, a multi-year programming law on old age.
From 2030, in fact, there will be more people over 65 than those under 15... “No one, neither me nor the entire Government, has ever considered the adoption of this bill as a final settlement. », assured the Minister Delegate for the Elderly Fadila Khattabi before the senators, promising to “debate” it and “to draw all the necessary consequences, including, of course, in the law”.
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But the response is considered far too vague by the oppositions, while the promise of a major law on autonomy dates back to Emmanuel Macron's first five-year term. Former Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne had even announced a text by the summer of 2024, but this commitment now seems obsolete.
In an extremely tense budgetary context with an alarming slippage in the deficit, it seems to be time for restraint in the government. “We will not go directly to an old age law”, recently confirmed a ministerial source, affirming that Élisabeth Borne had made this promise “from a different economic perspective” and “in a perspective where she remained Prime Minister”.
However, an article of this law on “aging well” requires the government to present a multi-year programming law “every five years”, with a first version required “before December 31, 2024”.
Nine heads of parliamentary groups, including the president of the LR group in the Senate Bruno Retailleau, also asked last week in an open letter to Prime Minister Gabriel Attal for a “solemn commitment, associated with a precise timetable, concerning the filing and examination of this bill relating to old age”. No clear answer at this stage.
“A publicity stunt”, judge the communists
“The government is walled in silence,” lamented socialist Corinne Féret, whose group abstained, “sadly aware that everything we had promised no longer holds.” The communist group went further by voting against the text, considered “a publicity stunt to give the illusion of progress on this issue” according to Senator Cathy Apourceau-Poly.
The Rally of Democrats, Progressives and Independents group voted for the text. “This text is perhaps only a brick, but it is a useful brick,” said Guadeloupe senator Solanges Nadille.
🗣️ “This text may only be a building block, but it is a useful building block in our efforts to take charge of aging and guarantee a quality life for our seniors. We will therefore vote for it, without hesitation! »
— @SolangesNADILLE on the PPL #BienVieillir pic.twitter.com/UwAi8mL4ms
— RDPI Senators (@senateursRDPI) March 27, 2024
The main measures of the law for “aging well”
In the meantime, the autonomy sector will have to content itself with the various measures contained in this bill for "aging well", such as the creation of a professional card to facilitate the recognition of the work of home workers, or the protection of visiting rights in nursing homes.
The text provides for the creation of a departmental autonomy service, a “one-stop shop” to “decompartmentalize” policies in favor of the elderly and people with disabilities, and establishes a departmental body for reporting cases of mistreatment.
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The right for residents in nursing homes to welcome their pet also appears in this law, provided that these residents are able to “ensure their physiological, behavioral and medical needs”.