Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin proposed reducing the planned reduction in exemptions from these charges to 2 billion euros, instead of 4.
The government is “ready” to cut into the 4 billion euros reduction in reductions in employer contributions initially presented in the 2025 budget. Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin proposed that “only half, 2 billion euros can be requested from companies”this Sunday, November 17 on LCI. This would, according to the minister, allow “do not penalize minimum wage employees”, of which employers would then see “the cost of this work will increase”.
The executive had introduced this measure in the 2025 draft budget currently being examined in Parliament to reduce the public deficit, the amount of these exemptions from charges has doubled in ten years and is now close to 80 billion euros. But at the beginning of November, the Minister of the Economy Antoine Armand had already announced that he wanted “mitigate” the increase in employer contributions on low wages planned in the 2025 budget, without quantifying this proposal, in exchange “other efforts” which may relate to working hours.
“We do not work enough to finance our social protection”also supported Laurent Saint-Martin on Sunday, declaring himself «favorable» to the Senate's proposal of seven hours of additional work per year, without remuneration, requested from workers to finance Social Security. The Senate must examine the Social Security budget from Monday in session, before the state budget the following week.
