Gabriel Attal is trying to rectify the situation. This Thursday, April 4, when the Prime Minister receives The world, the windows of his office, on the first floor of the Hôtel de Matignon, are wide open. The spring weather turns stormy. Literally as figuratively. The unemployment insurance reform, which the tenant of Rue de Varenne announced a week earlier, arouses criticism from all sides. The left opposition criticizes the government for making savings “on the backs of the unemployed”.
The slingshot reaches the presidential camp. Voices are being raised, like those of the President (Renaissance) of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet and the former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, now a member of Parliament for Calvados, expressing surprise at a reform which contradicts the countercyclical spirit of that of 2023 – the Prime Minister’s project could reduce the duration of benefits while unemployment starts to rise again. The debate is heating up. The day before, in the Council of Ministers, Emmanuel Macron was worried about this, calling for ” sense “ in the narrative of government action.
Gabriel Attal does so. “It is not an economic reform, it is a reform of activity and prosperity”, assures the Prime Minister. If this project was revealed at the same time as the announcement of an unusual budget deficit, at 5.5% of gross domestic product, it is pure coincidence. The planned initiative appeared in the litany of measures promised by the head of government during his general policy declaration in January.
“I fully assume responsibility. I was appointed to act. There will be an unemployment insurance reform in 2024 », affirms the tenant of Rue de Varenne, who claims to have the support of a majority of deputies from his camp. Since his arrival in Matignon, Gabriel Attal has received some 150 elected officials from the presidential coalition and spoke with around thirty right-wing deputies on Wednesday evening, who guaranteed him their support.
The spirit of the reform is to achieve full employment, the Macronist Holy Grail, he said. ” We passed [depuis 2017] from 9.6% to 7.5% unemployment. This historic decline was not achieved by magic. This is the fruit of our reforms, particularly of unemployment insurance,” he blurted.
Respond to the concerns of the French
In response to Elisabeth Borne who praises in a tweet published the same morning the benefits of his previous countercyclical reform, the head of government points out that“he is committed to remaining within this logic while evolving its parameters”. And he emphasizes that “the Banque de France anticipates a strong economic rebound in 2025, when the reform will come into full force”.
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