The bill on purchasing power presented Thursday in the Council of Ministers includes a tripling of the boost created after the crisis of yellow vests.
The quinquennium finally launched, the first bills are revealed. One of them, relating to purchasing power, was presented to the Council of Ministers on Thursday. While the subject has become one of the main concerns of the French in recent months, the government wanted to make it one of the symbols of the new legislature put in place a few days ago. Within the bill, a measure amplifies an already operational system: the Macron bonus, launched at the end of 2018 in response to the yellow vests crisis, and which allows companies to reward their employees at the end of the year. Capped between 1,000 and 2,000 euros – if a profit-sharing mechanism has been put in place – this boost, exempt from employee and employer contributions and tax-exempt, could triple.
Read alsoFuel, food checks, rents … What the government offers for purchasing power
Renewed for the year 2022, the bonus, with no minimum threshold, “may be paid to all employees, for a maximum amount of 3,000 euros for all companies, and 6,000 euros for those that have set up a profit-sharing scheme“, as the government reminds us. To obtain it, an employee, an apprentice, a temporary worker or a public official must receive a monthly income of less than three SMICs over the past year. If the employer has no obligation to give this bonus, he can vary it according to criteria directly linked to the employee: working conditions, working time, etc.
Arriving in the National Assembly on July 18, the bill could be widely amended by the Lower House. Emmanuel Macron no longer having an absolute majority, he will have to deal with the various oppositions to reach a compromise, in particular with the right. If the Macron bonus has benefited 5 million French people for three years, according to the executive, no one knows if and how it could be reworked after the parliamentary debates.
SEE ALSO – Purchasing power: “Companies that can increase wages must do so”, urges Bruno Le Maire