Health and social crisis: poverty, the surprise fight of the right

If France seems to be experiencing a "decrease" in the Covid-19 epidemic, in the words of Olivier Véran, there is another equally worrying curve, which is not decreasing: that of poverty.

According to Secours Catholique, France could have 10 million poor in 2020. A subject whose right, in search of the future, does not intend to relinquish.

"The health crisis has resulted in the precariousness of a million French people [...], there is an urgent need to step up the fight against the poverty of our fellow citizens," Senator (LR) Alexandra Borchio-Fontimp said on Wednesday. the hemicycle, addressed to Jean Castex.

His colleague Pierre Charon also went there with his letter to the Minister of Health and Solidarity.

The day before, it was the secretary general of LR Aurélien Pradié who questioned the strategic committee of his party: “It must be a central subject in the coming weeks.

He and several other young elected officials spoke with officials of Emmaus France last week, and will do so shortly with Secours Catholique.

“New audiences far from precariousness are now concerned.

Measures against poverty exist, but they are emergency measures, while this poverty will be lasting, ”warns Pradié, deputy for Lot.

LR will launch a parliamentary working group on the subject

"The second confinement tilts the young, the self-employed and the modest workers ...", adds LR Deputy Vice-President Guillaume Peltier who argues that "the indicators in the territories are exploding".

One way of presenting the elected representatives on the right as “immediate sensors”, unlike the macronists who would be “disconnected”.

The member for Loir-et-Cher has just tabled a bill on food waste which aims to lower from 400 to 100 m2 the threshold from which supermarkets are obliged to give their unsold products to associations.

He also wants to tighten the fines for non-compliance with the law, rising to 20,000 euros against 1,500 previously.

Sign that the subject of extreme precariousness worries, the boss of senators (LR), Bruno Retailleau proposed Sunday in our columns to pass the tax deductions for donations to associations fighting against great precariousness from 75% to 85%.

That of LR deputies, Damien Abad, told us that he was going to launch a working group on poverty to quickly make proposals.

"It's a misery that affects people who work"

Locally, the regional presidents, after having invested in the masks during the first confinement, are also putting their hands in their pockets.

Emergency aid to associations for Xavier Bertrand in Hauts-de-France, ditto for Renaud Muselier in the South or for Laurent Wauquiez in Auvergne Rhône-Alpes with 3 million euros of aid in total, food distributions for associations and towns in Ile-de-France for Valérie Pécresse.

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Isn't the fight against poverty traditionally more the prerogative of the left?

“It wakes up the right because it is a misery that affects people who work.

It does not only affect the guy who loafs on his sofa and who is waiting for his RSA, ”interprets a strategist LR.

It also allows the right to catch the executive at fault.

Emmanuel Macron, who presented a “plan against poverty” in September 2018, made it one of the priorities of his five-year term.