Elisabeth Borne opened the door on Thursday to a doubling of the tax-free aid that companies can pay to employees to cover their fuel costs, raising the ceiling to 400 euros, in an interview with the newspapers of the EBRA group.
This boost was provided for in the preliminary versions of the purchasing power measures, currently under consideration in the Assembly, but had finally disappeared from the amending finance bill (PLFR).
“The philosophy is to protect the purchasing power of all French people on fuel when they come back, and that companies then take over,” said the Prime Minister.
“They could pay tax-exempt aid of up to 400 euros to their employees who have a high consumption, the equivalent of a discount of nearly 50 cents at the pump for an employee who travels 12,000 kilometers per year”, she said. addition.
The return of this provision comes as the executive and the Republicans are trying to reach an agreement in the face of the high level of fuel prices, within the framework of discussions in the Assembly.
On Wednesday, the boss of the LR deputies Olivier Marleix had called for the raising of the ceiling of this transport bonus. “We would like it to be worn at 400 euros”, he had indicated on franceinfo.
In addition, the executive, who wanted to gradually dye the current rebate of 18 cents on a liter of fuel to replace it with another device, would finally be willing to extend this discount by increasing it.
“Petroleum prices are falling, which allows us to be less worried,” said Ms. Borne, while pleading to “maintain affordable prices at the start of September”.
Moreover, still looking for a majority in the Assembly, the head of government said she wanted to move forward “with all those who are ready to find a way with us”.
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But what would be his reaction if the majority were due to the votes of the National Rally?
“The deputies of the RN were elected like their other colleagues. I am not going to start counting votes in a different way from the rules which apply to the National Assembly”, she underlined.
“But the majorities that we are going to seek, by discussing the articles upstream, are in the Republican arc,” Ms. Borne further pleaded.
In this same interview, the Prime Minister reaffirmed her desire to carry out a new reform of unemployment insurance “by noting the fact that, in a period when companies are unable to recruit, the rules are becoming more restrictive, and by more protective if the employment situation is less favourable”.