Thibaud Hue, with AFP / Photo credit: GUILLAUME SOUVANT / AFP
While traveling in Indre, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne spoke about public services, in particular the time required to obtain an identity card, which she undertook to reduce by two by the summer. New fingerprint collection terminals will also be installed to streamline the process.
Almost a week after the enactment of the pension reform law, Elisabeth Borne is traveling to Indre to discuss public services. The Prime Minister took the opportunity to speak about the deadline for obtaining an identity card and undertook to halve it by the summer. Today, these delays average 66 days.
A period of “20 days in the fall”
According to the Prime Minister, the objective is to shorten the deadline “to 30 days this summer” and to “20 days in the fall” everywhere in France. To do this, the number of appointments available will be increased and 655 fingerprint collection terminals will be installed this summer in the 30 departments where the waiting times for redoing one’s identity card are the longest. Elisabeth Borne also added that these measures will represent 100 million euros of “sustainable” support from the State to communities.
The government also intends to accompany people who proceed by telephone or by a visit to the town hall to facilitate the process. “The objective is that all French people can have an overview of the appointments that are available,” she explained. Since the end of 2021, requests for the creation or renewal of identity documents have experienced an unprecedented increase.
12 million requests in 2022 compared to 9 million in 2019
An increase caused as much by the gradual exit from the Covid 19 pandemic and the catch-up of requests as by the enthusiasm for the new identity card or the fact that valid identity documents are more often required, in particular for travel. France has thus gone from around 9 million requests in 2019 to more than 12 million in 2022.
For the arrival of the Prime Minister, a security perimeter was installed and the demonstrators were kept away. Among the handpicked users who were able to approach her, none questioned her about the pension reform.