According to our information, the government is not closing the door to a complete abandonment of the unemployment insurance reform, but it does not want to abandon all of the savings hoped for. Explanations.
The Barnier government could well abandon the unemployment insurance reform, left pending by its predecessors. In any case, this is one of the options that was mentioned during the meetings between the Prime Minister’s office and the social partners last week.
The government is ready to give back control to the social partners, even if, in the event of an agreement, it means abandoning its unemployment insurance reform. But not without conditions. There are two of them, several sources tell BFM Business.
First of all, that the social partners reach an agreement before October 30. Why this date? Quite simply, because the decree extending the current rules falls the following day.
A date close, but it is not impossible to get there if we are to believe the CFDT leader Marilyse Leon:
“It is entirely possible to have a flash negotiation in a few weeks and to be able to concretize what companies are committing to regarding the employment of seniors,” she declared at the end of her meeting with Michel Barnier on Tuesday.
But the government is demanding more from the social partners to abandon this reform. According to our information, Matignon is demanding savings, to compensate – at least in part – the 3.5 billion euros expected from the tightening of the rules.
Problem: there are not many levers. Except to draw a line under the 0.05% reduction in contributions that the employers had negotiated. A measure worth 1.5 billion euros, enough to cool the ardor of the employers.
A tightening of the rules
This reform aimed at tightening the conditions of eligibility for unemployment – in particular by extending the period worked to open rights – was put on hold by the government after the defeat of the presidential camp in the legislative elections.
Currently, to open rights, you must have worked six months in the last 24 months, which constitute the reference period for affiliation. This reform aims to open rights after having worked eight months over a period of 20 months. It also plans to reduce the compensation period for those under 57 from 18 to 15 months, if the current conditions for access to employment do not change. Only employees over 57 would benefit from a maximum compensation of 27 months under the reform.
