“I do not correspond to the robot portrait that some were expecting, that is good, the situation is unprecedented”… For more than an hour, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne unfolded her general policy speech to the deputies of the National Assembly freshly remodeled. Often heckled, booed, even treated as a “hypocrite”, Elisabeth Borne kept smiling or simply called Yaël Braun-Pivet with a look to the rescue. The new president of the Hemicycle therefore called the deputies to order, allowing the head of government to discuss the “projects that her government is carrying out” concerning pensions, the fight against global warming, early childhood, secularism or further equality between men and women.
At the end of her long speech, the Prime Minister paid a vibrant tribute to all the women “who have paved the way” in politics, assuring that “the fight will continue until equality is no longer a question “. Here is what to remember from this great oral placed under the common thread of “compromise”.
The “essential” pension reform
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne warned that the French should “work gradually a little longer”. “Our country needs a reform of its pension system”, a reform which “will not be uniform”, which “will have to take into account long careers and hardship” and “ensure the continued employment of seniors” , added the Prime Minister, specifying that this reform would be carried out “in consultation with the social partners, by involving parliamentarians as far upstream as possible”.
The reform “is not tied up. It won’t be take it or leave it. But it is essential”, assured Elisabeth Borne, in particular “to build new social progress”, “for the prosperity of our country and the sustainability of our pay-as-you-go system”.
100% renationalization of EDF
The State intends to renationalise 100% of the energy company EDF, announced Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. “I confirm to you today the intention of the State to hold 100% of the capital of EDF. This change will enable EDF to strengthen its ability to carry out ambitious and essential projects for our energy future as soon as possible,” she said. As a reminder, the State now owns nearly 84% of the electrician, 1% being held by employees and 15% by institutional and individual shareholders. EDF shares jumped on the Paris Stock Exchange after this announcement.
A culture “accessible to all”
The government wants to make the culture pass accessible from the 6th year, which currently allows 15-18 year olds to have a budget to buy cultural products, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne announced on Wednesday, believing that it was necessary to make “culture accessible to everyone, from the youngest. »
Initially intended for young people reaching the age of 18 with 300 euros to spend, this pass was extended at the beginning of the year to teenagers from 15 years old with 20 euros the year of their 15 years, 30 euros the year of their 16 years and 30 euros the year they turn 17. It also currently includes a collective component, with an envelope depending on the number of students for classes from the 4th.
Modified calculation method for disabled adult allowance
The government will reform the disabled adult allowance in order to calculate it individually, that is to say without taking into account the income of the spouse, as demanded by the associations, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Wednesday. “My government will reform, with you, with the associations, the Disabled Adult Allowance” (AAH), she promised during her general policy statement before the National Assembly. “We will start from the principle of deconjugalization,” she said.
The Prime Minister, who announced the organization of a “national disability conference” in early 2023, assured that the government would act in favor of “the autonomy of people with disabilities” and the “transformation of medico-social structures” .
Create “a public service for early childhood”
The government wants to create “a public early childhood service” in order to open 200,000 additional childcare places to meet the current need for childcare solutions, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Wednesday. “My government wishes to build, with the communities, a real public service for early childhood”, she assured during her declaration of general policy before the National Assembly. “It will make it possible to provide the 200,000 missing reception places,” she added. These childcare solutions will be “close to home” and “financially accessible”.
Elisabeth Borne also announced that the government would grant “aid to single-parent families for the care of children up to 12 years old”. Childcare establishments (EAJE) offered 471,000 places in France in 2019. However, there are strong regional disparities.
“Radical responses to the ecological emergency”
The Prime Minister promised “radical responses to the ecological emergency”, whether “in our way of producing, of housing, of moving around, of consuming”. “As of September, we will launch a broad consultation with a view to an energy-climate orientation law”, she added, promising to define “sector by sector, territory by territory” “targets for reducing emissions, steps and appropriate means”.
For full employment “within our reach”
Elisabeth Borne felt that full employment was “within our reach” and required a simplification of the “too complex” support for the unemployed through a “transformation of Pôle emploi into France Travail”. “Today full employment is within our reach. And work remains for me a major lever of emancipation, ”said the Prime Minister. And to specify that he has not set a date or precise figure for this objective. Full employment in France is generally considered to be an unemployment rate around 5%. “During the previous five-year term, we have already come halfway towards full employment,” she said.
At 7.3%, the unemployment rate is “the lowest for fifteen years”, according to her, a consequence of the reforms of apprenticeship, unemployment insurance, investment in the training of job seekers and the “one young person, one solution” plan.
“Transforming Pôle emploi into France Travail”
To achieve full employment, “we must bring back to employment those who are furthest from the labor market,” said Elisabeth Borne. But the organization of support for the unemployed is today “too complex” and “its effectiveness suffers”. “We can no longer continue to have, on the one hand, the State which supports job seekers, on the other, the regions which take care of their training and the departments in charge of the integration of beneficiaries. of the RSA”, she judged. “That’s why we want to transform Pôle emploi into France Travail,” she said, suggesting that the public operator should oversee these currently dispersed skills.
She also returned to the reform of the RSA, announced by Emmanuel Macron during the electoral campaign: “Paying an allowance is not enough. What we want is for everyone to come out of it and regain their dignity through work”.
Finding “compromises” and “building together”
Elisabeth Borne, who confided that she was not a “woman to shy away from challenges or debates”, began her speech by calling on the groups of deputies to find “compromises” and to “build solutions together”. energy price or climate challenges, adding that “disorder and instability are not options”. She will lead “for each subject a dense consultation”: “we will approach each text in a spirit of dialogue, compromise and openness”, she insisted, calling for the construction of “project majorities”. And to add: “Trust cannot be decreed a priori, it will be forged, text after text, project after project, because we will work in good faith and on good terms, as the French demand of us. »
Elisabeth Borne named the presidents of all the groups, as if to underline her desire to build “compromises” with the opposition. Finally, all except the presidents of the La France insoumise group, Mathilde Panot, and of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen.