No protesters in sight and a small feat. Throughout her morning in Salon-de-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), Friday, June 9, Élisabeth Borne will have uttered the word “retirements” only twice. And again, it was to answer questions from journalists. Crossing swords with the opposition the previous days in the hemicycle of the National Assembly on a final attempt to repeal the reform, the Prime Minister escaped.
In the South, it goes back to work mode. It is a question of launching the chapter France Travail plein-emploi, a bill which will arrive “before the summer” in the Senate, according to Olivier Dussopt. The Minister of Labor takes a little oxygen in the company of the tenant of Matignon. Very happy, too, to lay down the verbal weapons to find a more social vocabulary, dwelling on the benefits of supporting RSA recipients in an integration company.
“Never have so many French people been employed since 1975,” he said. But we keep an unemployment rate at 7.1%, which is one of the highest in Europe. The problem is primarily due to recruitment difficulties. That’s why we need to train, especially in short-term occupations. In addition, the public employment service is split between many actors. The goal is to coordinate better. Consider that 40% of people at the RSA came off the radar. An exit in line with the philosophy of the former socialist, leader of the left wing of macronie.
Of course, it is impossible to sweep away the ultra-tense social context. After all, the labor reform which aims to overhaul Pôle Emploi, improve training in shortage occupations or follow more closely benefit recipients looking for a job in exchange for about fifteen activities per week is in the same family as retreats.
A way of sending opponents “who give into caricature” back to their camp. And to tackle, in passing, the Insoumis who “seemed to appreciate the devices on seniors” but who did not pass the obstacle of the Constitutional Council.
However, the left will not refrain from attacking the France Travail bill. Already, critics are knocking on a device that would require RSA recipients to resume an activity, in the form of training, internships or volunteering. Otherwise, if they do not “play the game”, notes Olivier Dussopt, they will see their allowance temporarily suspended. “Unfortunately, it’s also useful,” he clarifies.
More cautious, Elisabeth Borne avoids the semantic pitfall and leaves the role of Fouettard to his minister. She prefers to speak accompaniment. “The RSA is a subsistence income, there is no question of abolishing it”, she assures La Provence. “It’s a dignity issue. Support must be strengthened, including towards integration because there are people who cannot immediately access a job in a company, but also limit the cases of people who can very well go to work and do not don’t go there. It irritates the people who work a lot, and we have to take that into account. »
At the local Salon mission, she takes the time for round tables with young people in reintegration. Here, at least, we are not talking about pensions or relative political majority. And the tensions being relieved are individual. We meet Thomas, 24, who came out of the street and multiplies internships and training. “I sleep in a center where I can eat and wash my clothes. But we have to leave the premises at 6:30 a.m., while I start my internships at 9 a.m. It’s hard to rest. »
Elisabeth Borne changes tables, takes an interest in Sarah, 19, who, after a professional baccalaureate and an orientation towards real estate, wants to become an air hostess. There is still Félix, 20 years old, victim of harassment at school and passed by several professional high schools. “I was sent to courses that did not suit me at all when I would like to become a French teacher and do civic service. You know that there is a real problem of orientation of young people, “he asks, smiling the Prime Minister.
“I thought I understood,” euphemizes the Prime Minister, before turning to young mothers with life lines as diverse as they are complex. This will be the whole point of this bill: to act on a case-by-case basis where urgency and financial envelopes, necessarily limited, are also constraints. But sewing, Elisabeth Borne knows.
Banking on the active participation of RSA recipients, which sends a message to those who work and jeers at the “assisted”, it opens a door to the right. “More than 30 texts have been voted on in Parliament since the beginning of the mandate”, she recalls, focusing on her “roadmap”. More than ever, she is going step by step.
