Marked by Michel Barnier’s general policy speech and the presentation of the 2025 draft budget to Parliament, the month of October is also accompanied by concrete changes in the daily lives of the French.
This year, October 1 will be a particularly important date, in particular for determining the direction of French economic policy in the coming months. It is on this day that the new Prime Minister Michel Barnier must deliver his general policy declaration to an Assembly that is more fragmented than ever. Initially, Tuesday was also the deadline for the government to table the finance bill for 2025 but the new Minister of the Budget, Laurent Saint-Martin, finally postponed this submission to the week of October 9.
Michel Barnier must resolve the squaring of the budgetary circle, with a deficit which could exceed 6% of GDP in 2024. The balance between spending cuts and additional tax revenue promises to be very difficult to find, while France is targeted by an excessive deficit procedure by the European Commission. Favoring a reduction in spending, Laurent Saint-Martin ruled out a “generalized tax increase”. Michel Barnier spoke of possible increases targeted at the richest taxpayers and large businesses, breaking a taboo.
While waiting for the parliamentary debates around the 2025 budget, October 1 will be the occasion for numerous changes in the daily lives of a large number of French people.
• Revaluation of 3.26% of APL
Several increases in social benefits are planned, starting with personalized housing assistance. At the start of Emmanuel Macron’s first five-year term, their reduction of five euros caused an outcry even though housing remains by far the number one item of expenditure for the French. As of October 1, APL recipients will see their assistance increase by 3.26% to be consistent with the increase in rents.
• Increase in small retirement pensions
Another revaluation will take place at the beginning of October: that of the small pensions of retirees who have had a full career. In The Parisian At the beginning of September, the general director of the National Old Age Insurance Fund (CNAV) Renaud Villard indicated that the second wave of revaluation of “small pensions” planned as part of the pension reform would concern “850,000 people”.
“They will receive two types of payments: around September 25, the catch-up over one year of the increase that they should have received since September 1, 2023”, when the reform came into force. “And on October 9, their pension increased.”
“The people concerned will receive on average 600 euros for retroactivity, i.e. a catch-up over twelve months. As for the revaluation of their pension, it will be 50.94 euros on average and will apply every month”, specified the director of the CNAV. The contested pension reform revalued the “contributory minimum” (Mico), a support system for small pensions, so that they reach a minimum of 85% of the net minimum wage, for an employee who has completed a full career at the minimum wage.
• Experimentation with “solidarity at source”
Five departments (Alpes-Maritimes, Aube, Hérault, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Vendée) will experiment with “solidarity at source” from October 1 until March 1, 2025. Concretely, this aims to simplify the procedures for beneficiaries of the RSA and the activity bonus thanks to pre-filled forms, as is the case for the income declaration.
• New increase in the benchmark gas price
After a slight drop at the start of the school year, the benchmark gas price published each month by the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) starts to rise again in October. It will thus increase by 5.36% compared to last month, which will result in an average cost per kWh of 14 cents for hot water and cooking and 11 cents for heating.
Although half as much, this increase comes three months after a sharp increase in the average kWh benchmark price in July. This increase of 11.7% was then mainly linked to the revaluation for four years of gas transport costs borne by the distribution network manager GRDF. This “toll”, invoiced to suppliers and accounting for a third of the bill, must be increased in the face of increased maintenance and modernization expenses for gas infrastructures, while allowing the integration of green gas into the pipes. And this, especially since it becomes more difficult to distribute these costs while the number of gas subscribers falls: -197,000 between the end of 2022 and the end of 2023, according to the CRE.
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• Tripling of SUV parking rates in Paris
From October 1, the parking rate for the largest cars, which pollute more than others and take up more space, will triple. The maximum rate will therefore be from October 1st 18 euros per hour of parking in the central districts of the capital, 12 euros for the outer districts. However, residents who park in their neighborhood and professionals, including taxis, will not be affected. The Paris town hall’s plan to introduce specific parking pricing for large vehicles was approved in February by 54.55% of Parisians, during a vote which mobilized less than 6% of voters.
• Meurthe-et-Moselle is testing the “youth emancipation income”
The department of Meurthe-et-Moselle will experiment with a “youth emancipation income” of 500 euros for people aged 16 to 25 from October 1.
The departmental assembly gave the green light to a three-year trial of this financial aid which will be accessible to young people with little or no income and who are not eligible for other aid, a first in France.
• The Paris ring road at 50 km/h
No more 70 km/h on the Paris ring road: from this Tuesday, the maximum speed will start to drop to 50 km/h, as in the city, a controversial decision by Anne Hidalgo aimed at reducing the noise and pollution suffered by more than half a million local residents.
For ten years, the speed has been limited to 70 km/h on this urban highway used every day by more than a million vehicles. As the average daytime traffic speed is currently estimated at 37 km/h, the reduction to 50 km/h should only have a major impact at odd times.
The measure must apply from Tuesday after publication of a municipal decree, the ring road being property of Paris town hall. It will be done section by section, to be generalized to the entire ring on October 10, time to change the signage. “We are not going to fine motorists from October 1, there will be a transition period,” assured the first deputy at Paris town hall, Patrick Bloche.
• Increased wear rate
This development will give a little more breathing space to households wishing to take out a property loan. The usury rate, which designates the maximum legal rate beyond which a bank cannot grant a real estate loan, will increase again and therefore facilitate access to this type of credit. Although the exact extent of the increase is not known, the Banque de France has nevertheless indicated that it would be significant.
Exceptionally revised at a monthly rate in 2023, the usury rate returned to a quarterly rate in 2024. Between the second and third quarters of 2024, the usury rate of fixed rate loans less than 10 years increased from 4 .56% to 4.60%, remained stable at 6.13% for those between 10 and 20 years and increased from 5.85% to 5.97% for variable rate loans. Only fixed rate loans over 20 years saw their usury rate drop from 6.39% to 6.16%, a first since 2021.
• Fight against telephone number theft
From October 1, telephone operators will have to guarantee “the authenticity of numbers” displaying an identifier on the phone screen of the person called or receiving the message, in application of the Naegelen law (adopted on July 24, 2020). Thus, fraudsters will no longer be able to claim the numbers of banking establishments or public organizations such as Social Security.
