“
I can't stand this stigmatization of the most fragile and the poorest.
For the Minister Delegate in charge of the City and Housing Olivier Klein, there is no possible debate.
The proposal tabled on August 4 by part of the group Les Républicains (LR) in the National Assembly, aimed at regulating the use of the back-to-school allowance (ARS), is irrelevant.
“
Whether the money is used for one thing or another, the reality is that no one is going to make unnecessary expenses
”, thundered the minister, who is also still mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint -Denis), this Thursday morning on RTL.
“
This bonus must exist, we must trust as many people as possible, and we must stop having this stigmatizing debate each year
,” he insisted.
Read alsoThe right submits a bill to regulate the use of the back-to-school allowance
A similar proposal filed in 2020
The bill tabled by the right proposes that the ARS - the first payment of which was made on Tuesday in a major part of France - be paid "
in the form of a special payment title, called "back to school voucher ”, freely usable with brands meeting objective criteria
”.
For the signatory deputies, "
through this bill, it is a matter of giving priority to the best interests of the child by creating a mechanism to control the use of the ARS
".
In 2020, MP LR Pierre-Henri Dumont, at the initiative of the text, had already tabled the same proposal.
Before Olivier Klein, another member of the government, Olivier Véran, spokesperson for the executive, had also spoken out against this text.
“
The back-to-school allowance is useful and fair!
It is a precious aid for 3 million families to finance children's supplies and to meet back-to-school expenses.
Stop the stigma
,” he tweeted Wednesday night.
The firm opposition of the government to the supervision of the assignment of the ARS contrasts with the past positions of some within the macronist camp.
Last year, Jean-Michel Blanquer, then Minister of National Education, created controversy by considering that the idea of paying the back-to-school allowance in the form of a voucher was "
interesting
", then explaining that “
flat screen purchases
” were “
higher in September than at other times
”.
