With the announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly on June 9, an unprecedented phase of simple management of current affairs began in government departments. In many areas, decisions relating to budgetary choices or political orientations are on hold for an unknown period.
- Housing crisis worsens
As the French continue to experience increasing difficulties finding housing, the reforms initiated to try to streamline the real estate market and access to rentals have been halted abruptly. According to the economic report published this summer by the notaries of France, the volume of sales of old housing “could drop below 750,000 at the end of the summer”, while it peaked at more than 1.2 million transactions in the fall of 2021. The new-build market has fallen by 36% over one year. A noticeable drop in business failures in the sector.
Faced with this crisis, the Attal government had launched a bill “to develop the supply of affordable housing”, which was intended to promote intermediate housing and accelerate construction. The text should have been debated in the Senate in mid-June. Its discussion was interrupted by the dissolution. Similarly, the transpartisan bill (Renaissance-PS) strengthening the regulation of furnished tourist accommodation such as Airbnb, voted by both chambers, did not have time to be examined by the joint committee.
- The hospital in pain, priority in health
Closure of emergency services, exploding waiting times… Tensions in hospitals, now recurring in the summer, illustrate the crisis in the healthcare system. Beyond structural reforms, the budgetary issue should impose itself very quickly on the future government. “The hospital budget is a top priority”, defends Arnaud Robinet, head of the French Hospital Federation, who mentions “a very degraded financial situation, with 1.7 billion [d’euros] deficit”. Uncertainty prevails, while the preparation of the Social Security financing bill, which notably sets the national target for health insurance spending – i.e. the resources allocated to hospitals and community medicine – is on hold.
Another issue: the greater participation of clinics in on-call care (evenings, nights, weekends), included in the Valletoux law of December 2023, is still awaiting its implementing decree. The overhaul of the nursing profession as well as the plan promised by the government in the fall to combat violence against caregivers are among the other pending issues.
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