Due to censorship, Parliament was unable to adopt the measure extending the use of meal vouchers for food shopping. Only directly consumable products can now be purchased in supermarkets with “restaurant vouchers”.
Shopping with meal vouchers becomes more complicated. Since Wednesday, January 1, the 5.4 million employees holding “restaurant vouchers” can no longer use them to purchase certain products in supermarkets.
This concerns products which are not directly consumable and which must be prepared. This is for example the case for flour, pasta, meat, rice, oil, etc.
An extension made impossible by censorship
At the end of November, the National Assembly nevertheless approved the extension, until the end of 2026, of an exceptional measure authorizing the use of meal vouchers for the purchase of all types of food products. This exceptional measure was introduced by law in 2022 in the context of the Covid crisis and had already been extended for one year in December 2023 due to persistent inflation and despite the annoyance of restaurateurs.
But government censorship changed the situation by leading to the suspension of the Senate's work. So much so that the upper house was unable to validate by a vote the renewal of the exemption allowing meal vouchers to be used to purchase food products that are not directly consumable.
However, it is still possible to use your meal vouchers to purchase directly consumable products such as sandwiches, prepared meals or salads.
Legendre's offs: meal vouchers, don't panic – 12/12
The exemption soon to be reintroduced?
Good news for employees: this return to the original rules for using meal vouchers could only be temporary. The Senate has in fact included on its agenda for January 15 a bill aimed at extending the use of meal vouchers for food shopping at the supermarket.
“It is urgent that households can continue to purchase basic food products with their meal vouchers until the end of 2025, pending a major reform,” reacted the Les Républicains rapporteur of this text , Marie-Do Aeschlimann.
The fact remains that the two chambers of Parliament do not yet agree on the timetable for the measure: if the Assembly voted for an extension until the end of 2026, the Senate opted for a limit to the end of 2025 during its work in commission. If this version is maintained by the upper house, the text will have to continue its journey through Parliament again, further postponing its potential promulgation.
