The Minister of Solidarity, Aurore Bergé, announced Wednesday, November 8 in an interview published on the L’Express website the creation, in 2025, of a “new right” for families so that young parents can stop work to keep their baby, while being better compensated.
“After maternity leave and paternity leave, parents will each be entitled to family leave, which they can take at the same time or one after the other, full-time or part-time, for a birth or a adoption,” she detailed. This “family leave” will be “much better paid” than the current parental leave, compensated to the tune of 429 euros per month, promises the minister, and this “to guarantee the middle classes have access to it”. Ms. Bergé does not specify the amount that the parents would receive, but they, she assures, “will finally have the material and financial conditions to be able to stop and take care of their baby in its first months, if they wish.”
The new leave could “coexist” with the current parental leave.
Consultation
Aurore Bergé is currently leading consultations with trade unions and employers’ organizations with a view to reforming parental leave.
In July, shortly after entering the government, the Minister of Solidarity called for “thinking” about “shorter parental leave, but better compensated to give families a real choice”, attracting a number of criticisms as to its possible shortening.
Created in 1977 and reformed several times since, parental leave allows parents to suspend their professional activity until the child is 3 years old.
It was notably reformed under the presidency of François Hollande in 2014: the compensation was reduced and the duration was reduced to two years if it is taken by only one parent. The third year could only be taken by the other parent. The goal was for 25% of fathers to take it. However, the appeal rate of fathers has almost not increased with this reform: less than 1% of fathers have taken it, according to a study by the French Observatory of Economic Conditions in 2021.
And the number of parents using it fell from 500,000 in 2013 to 246,000 in 2020, according to government figures.
