Jean-Luc Mélenchon described the Prime Minister as “insensitive” and a “brutal technocrat”.
The new Prime Minister, invested on May 16, has sparked controversy. This Tuesday, at the microphone of France BlueElisabeth Borne suggested to a disabled woman, deprived of disabled adult allowance (AAH), to return to work.
Read alsoInflation: aid for the most modest paid “at the start of the school year”, announces Elisabeth Borne
In the show “My France” by Wendy Bouchard, a listener from Nice, Dolorès, asks the Prime Minister “whether the state intends to do something for people with disabilities“. She specifies that her request for AAH was refused because her “husband earns 1,810 euros monthly, despite rent of 1,000 euros“. “I am told that I am not entitled to anything because we exceed the ceilings. Without my husband, I would be on the street“, she says.
Élisabeth Borne then advised him to “resume a professional activity“, in connection with “structures for which it is the responsibility“. No answer on the other end of the line. The Matignon tenant is quick to say that “maybe it’s not the time to talk about this professional recovery“. On the side of Dolores, the Niçoise responds sobbing: “I love when the Prime Minister says to resume a professional life, you know when you arrive in a wheelchair…»
Reactions on the left
The reactions on the left were quick. The leader of the Insoumis and the Nupes, Jean-luc-Mélenchon, described Elisabeth Borne as “brutal technocrat“, who “humiliate a woman in a wheelchair“.
For Fabien Roussel, communist and candidate for his re-election to the legislative elections in the North, the Prime Minister is icy and “insensitive“. François Ruffin, candidate in Picardy, summarizes this sequence in one sentence: “Are you disabled Madam? Get back to work“.
Other netizens refer to a “cruelty» from Elisabeth Borne, in «total disconnection» with the situation of Dolores. Some denounce remarksscandalous» mentioning that «just sitting in a wheelchair from morning to night is physical and psychological suffering“.
During the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron had already discussed the deconjugalization of the disabled adult allowance. The latter is only paid below a certain amount of annual income for a couple, even if only one person is disabled. “we will move” had mentioned the head of state in mid-April, deploring a “absurd cleaver“. On Tuesday, Elisabeth Borne declared that the government would “look at this topic“.