by Elizabeth Pineau
PARIS (Reuters) -Work and education were the key themes of the general policy speech of French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who promised on Tuesday to “de-bureaucratize” and “de-bureaucratize” France in a sharp-tongued speech peppered with announcements intended to improve everyday life.
For an hour and twenty minutes in the National Assembly, where he ignored the hubbub of the deputies of La France insoumise, the head of government listed concrete measures, including aimed at farmers mobilized throughout the country.
Gabriel Attal, who will address the Senate on Wednesday, did not submit his speech to a vote, leading left-wing groups to file a motion of censure against his government.
“We are ready to confront in order to move forward,” said the elected official appointed three weeks ago at the head of a team of 14 ministers which remains to be completed. “France will never be a nation that suffers. Neither yesterday, nor today, nor tomorrow.”
After taking stock of Emmanuel Macron’s six and a half years in power, he addressed those “who are not asking for the Moon but simply to be able to live from their work, educate their children, take care of themselves, and live in security. “
Gabriel Attal expressed his desire to “de-emphasize” the country during the next finance bill by lowering the charges “which weigh on the middle class” and confirmed the commitment to a tax cut of two billion euros .
He announced the generalization, in January 2025, of the conditioning of payment of Active Solidarity Income (RSA) to 15 hours of activity. Unemployed people at the end of their rights will no longer have a specific allowance and will be transferred directly to the RSA.
A bill tabled in the second half of 2024 will focus on “the merit” of civil servants and their remuneration. Gabriel Attal advocated the experimentation of “the four-day week” in central and decentralized administrations.
He also launched the idea that maintenance staff work office hours.
“WORKS OF EDUCATIONAL INTEREST”
In the midst of a housing crisis, he advocated the requisition of empty buildings and proposed creating 30,000 new homes within three years in 20 designated territories.
The head of government, who was Minister of National Education for six months, announced for March a reform of initial teacher training as well as a bonus of 800 euros and an increase of 200 euros net per month for nurses schools.
Six months after riots which stunned the country, he proposed “work of educational interest” for delinquents under 16 years old. “You break you repair, you dirty you clean, you challenge authority, you learn to respect it,” he said.
“Screens are a potential educational disaster,” he also declared, advocating the regulation of their use.
Wearing a uniform at school will be generalized at the start of the 2026 school year if the current experiment is conclusive. Same thing for the Universal National Service at the start of the 2026 school year before the launch, by the end of the five-year term, of an ecological civic service for 50,000 young volunteers.
In terms of secularism, the one who banned the abaya in schools declared: “We do not negotiate with the Republic, we accept it, we respect it.”
“HIT THE DEALERS IN THE WALLET”
In terms of security, Gabriel Attal gave priority to the fight against burglaries and drug trafficking, calling for “hitting the dealers in the wallet and cutting off their supplies”
A few weeks after the painful vote on the controversial law on immigration, he said he wanted to “take responsibility for welcoming less in order to welcome better” and confirmed the reform of State Medical Aid by the summer, by regulatory means
In terms of health, the fight against medical deserts will involve the regularization of foreign doctors present in France and the recruitment of caregivers beyond the borders.
The Prime Minister also addressed unruly patients: “When you have an appointment with the doctor and you don’t come without warning, you pay,” he said.
Generally speaking, the Prime Minister spoke out in favor of dusting off standards and freeing up energies, affirming for example that “all committees which have not met in the last 12 months will be abolished.”
While angry farmers have been threatening to blockade Paris for several days, Gabriel Attal has made new announcements, including aid for veterinary costs and GNR fuel.
At the end of a speech in which he also attacked the National Rally (RN) five months before the European elections, Gabriel Attal, 34, allowed himself a more personal note.
“Being French in 2024 means being able to be Prime Minister and openly homosexual,” he said.
The opposition showed itself to be intractable with the head of government, judged on Twitter to be “reactionary” by the leader of La France insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
“It’s not Gabriel Attal that we heard, it’s Gabriel Thatcher,” said the leader of the Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, on BFM TV, referring to the former British conservative Prime Minister Margaret. Thatcher.
From the podium, the president of the RN group Marine Le Pen denounced a “catalogue” of measures inspired by “the worst of the right and the worst of the left”.
(Report by Elizabeth Pineau, with contributions from Bertrand Boucey)
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