Extension of the “Macron bonus”, increase in pensions and allowances… the Senate with a right-wing majority begins this Thursday, and possibly until Saturday, the examination of the first part of the package of measures in favor of purchasing power which has dragged on in the National Assembly.
440 amendments have been tabled on this bill “carrying emergency measures for the protection of purchasing power” to 20 billion euros.
It provides for a series of measures including the tripling of up to 6,000 euros in the tax-free bonuses that companies can pay to their employees (extension until 31 December 2023 of the "Macron bonus"), a 4% increase in pensions retirement and several allowances (family, social minima) with retroactive effect from July 1, 2022, the deconjugation of the disabled adult allowance (AAH), as well as various measures to deal with the risks of energy shortage.
Read alsoPurchasing power bill: what the text voted on at the Assembly contains
Barely voted in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday by the deputies, the budgetary component (PLFR) is expected in committee also Thursday, before its arrival Monday in the hemicycle.
"The ink will have barely had time to dry", laments the general rapporteur of the Budget Jean-François Husson (LR).
If the government has set itself the objective of the final adoption of the two texts no later than August 7, the chaotic debates in the Assembly stretch the calendar.
They were voted by the deputies Les Républicains, but Bruno Retailleau, leader of the LR senators, who have the majority in the High Assembly with the centrists, laid down his conditions, insisting that "work pays" and asking the State of “tightening the belt a little”.
“It is not the laws that create purchasing power, it is not the indebtedness of the State.
What creates purchasing power is work.
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Employer contributions, employee savings and meal vouchers
For the rapporteur Frédérique Puissat (LR), almost no measure in the text, apart from the reduction in social security contributions for self-employed workers, "responds to the emergency".
Three new provisions "to respond to the emergency of the French, in particular the French who work", were thus adopted on his initiative in committee.
The senators created a reduction in employers' contributions, the amount of which would be fixed by decree, for overtime.
For the rapporteur, it is “the necessary complement” to the tax measures in favor of employees working overtime adopted by the National Assembly as part of the PLFR.
They have also provided for the possibility of an early release of employee savings.
The senators have finally relaxed the rules for the use of meal vouchers.
An amendment provides that they are authorized, until December 31, 2023, for the purchase of any food product, whether or not it is directly consumable.
The government had for its part announced that the daily ceiling for these meal vouchers would be increased by decree from 19 euros to 25 euros.
The senators have again given a turn of the screw to the "value sharing bonus", supposed to take over from the "Macron bonus".
They limited the possible splitting of the bonus during the year to four installments, to prevent it from replacing salary increases.
Above all, they have limited its sustainability from 2024 to companies with fewer than 50 employees.
Bruno Retailleau also refuses that the revaluation of the RSA is higher than that of the index point for civil servants, proposing 3.5% against 4% as provided for in the text voted by the deputies.
The debate will take place in the hemicycle, but the president of the centrist group, Hervé Marseille, has indicated that he would not vote for a reduction in the revaluation.
“We have a vision that is more social than budgetary.
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On the left, the leader of the Socialists, Patrick Kanner has already noted that his group "will not succeed" on its proposal to increase the minimum wage to 1,500 euros net, a proposal also made by the environmental groups and CRCE predominantly communist.
The same goes for holding a salary conference or the young RSA for all 18-25 year olds.
