2023-11-23 12:57:07
The National Assembly has adopted urgently, Thursday November 23the extension until the end of 2024 of an exemption which allows meal vouchers to be used to purchase all food products, even those which are not directly consumable, in a context of still high inflation.
This broad vote of the Assembly (117 votes for, 1 against) will still have to be confirmed in the Senate. This exemption, which was to end on December 31, 2023, allows some 5.4 million employees in France to use their “restaurant vouchers” to purchase non-consumable products on the shelves that must be prepared (flour, pasta, rice, meat). …).
On the bench of ministers, Olivia Grégoire (commerce) once again supported the extension of the system, while “food inflation is significant, even if it has continued to decline for several months”. On the other hand, the minister and the majority deputies who tabled the text warned against a more significant enlargement or a longer derogation.
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Recognizing that the Assembly legislates ” urgently “ About a month before the end of the waiver, the president of the economic affairs committee, Guillaume Kasbarian (Renaissance), called on the Senate to adopt the text as it stands to find a rapid agreement. If the oppositions largely adopted the measure, they all deplored a delayed reaction.
The government promises broader reform of meal vouchers
Thibault Bazin (Les Républicains) even denounced a “attempt to rewrite history” from the government, favorable to the measure even though it did not propose to include it in its 2024 budget project. Benjamin Lucas (ecological group) castigated the“amateurism” of the government “every time taken by surprise”.
“You manage to present to us [cette dérogation] like a gift, but meal vouchers are not a gift », thundered Sophia Chikirou (La France insoumise), arguing that they were partly financed by employees and criticizing the commissions received by the managing companies. The Assembly rejected the amendments from the left and the National Rally aimed at extending or perpetuating the exemption.
Ms. Grégoire promised a discussion “first half of 2024” for a broader reform of meal vouchers. Restaurant owners are particularly concerned about an even greater shift in the use of these tickets towards mass distribution, to their detriment. Continuing its use for food shopping would risk causing the loss of the device, the national commission for meal vouchers, a joint body which supervises this means of payment, warned on Tuesday.
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