2023-12-18 13:10:24
The measure to combat inflation should be implemented during the day. The Senate is considering on Monday the extension until the end of 2024 of a derogation which allows the use of restaurant vouchers to purchase all food products, with final adoption possible in Parliament in the evening.
The text has already been adopted by the National Assembly. And the senators have a good chance of keeping the same editorial version as the deputies to allow definitive adoption of this bill which can then come into force as quickly as possible, before January 1.
The system, implemented in 2022 and scheduled to expire on December 31, 2023, allows 5.4 million employees in France to use their “restaurant vouchers” to purchase non-directly consumable products on the shelves (flour, pasta, etc.). rice, meat, etc.), while they are normally reserved for directly consumable products in addition to restaurants.
Towards a joint joint commission?
Parliamentarians had sounded the alarm in recent weeks when this exemption could have disappeared without an urgent vote from them in both chambers of Parliament.
In the Senate, several environmentalist and centrist senators still tabled an amendment to limit the extension to six months – to June 30, 2024. If it were voted on, a joint joint committee would then have to be convened very quickly in order to achieve a compromise between deputies and senators before the end of the year.
However, this is not the wish of Les Républicains rapporteur Marie-Do Aeschlimann, who wishes to stick to the initial version while saying she is in favor of a global reflection with a view to a broader reform of the meal voucher, which the government also promised.
“Consumption patterns and the expectations of employees during their lunch breaks have changed,” explained the senator. She observes “a propensity to want to do your shopping and cook something”, particularly in the context of the development of teleworking.
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