In these times of budgetary scarcity, the government is looking for solutions. The proposal for a second day of solidarity to replenish state coffers is stirring public debate as examination of the Social Security financing bill is due to begin on Wednesday November 13, 2024 in the Senate.
Popular with the macronie, who see it as a good way to save money, this measure could generate between 2 and 4 billion euros according to estimates. “Why not November 11? »launched the mayor of Les Républicains de Meaux, Jean-François Copé, guest of France Inter this Monday, November 11.
We take stock of this idea which is far from unanimous.
1. Who initiated this idea?
The proposal first came from the Senate, indicates The Parisian . Last September, a report on the retirement home scandal recommended the elimination of a public holiday, based on what was done with Whit Monday in 2004. The objective: to bring money into the National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy (CNSA). According to this report, removing a public holiday “would generate 2.4 billion euros in additional revenue”.
The idea is also circulating within the macronie which seeks to make up for deficits, particularly that of social security. “Establishing a second day of solidarity is a very interesting proposal”argued at the end of October, on LCI the Minister of Economy and Finance Antoine Armand. “This is part of the debates that we will have in Parliament”added Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin on TF1 . “I think that anything that allows our country to show that we can work harder to participate in the recovery effort is going in the right direction. »
In The Echoes at the beginning of October, former minister Gérald Darmanin also defended the principle of a second day of solidarity “in the public as well as in the private”.
However, Prime Minister Michel Barnier himself is not at all in favor of it. Rather than eliminating a public holiday, which he knows is dear to the French, he prefers to revisit the exemptions from charges granted to businesses.
2. How much would this bring in to the state coffers?
Concretely, the employee would work one more day but without additional remuneration. Thus, the company – which improves its productivity – pays a tax of 0.3% of its payroll, details The Parisian. Added to this is an increase in the additional solidarity contribution (0.3%) paid by retirees.
According to these supporters, who rely on projections made from Pentecost Monday, this proposal would bring in around 3.3 billion euros per year into the Social Security coffers.
In total, in 2024, the National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy was able to collect 3.42 billion euros thanks to this day, or 8.2% of its annual revenue, specifies The Dispatch .
However, Laurent Vachey, Inspector General of Finance, had already studied the idea of a second day of solidarity. In a report published in 2020, he mentioned “uncertain effects on the economy and employment”adding that « the social partners are generally hostile to it”.
3. Why is this an unpopular idea?
Despite the benefits put forward, the option is far from convincing the left and the unions. “Each public holiday is linked to the history of France or to struggles, we are not going to make the budgetary mistakes of previous governments pay for on the backs of workers”tackles for her part the PS deputy for Paris Céline Hervieu.
“The problem is that the day of solidarity only concerns workers. There is no reason why dividends and financial income should not also be used.”deplores environmentalist senator Anne Souyris in The New Obs .
“We have already had a pension reform, three unemployment insurance reforms, a reform of the Labor Code, the freezing of salaries in the private and public sectors, so we must stop making fun of the world”reacts Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT questioned by France 2 .
Without forgetting that the first day of solidarity, established under Raffarin after the deadly heatwave of 2003, had created controversy after controversy, so that the government had to backpedal in 2008 and grant relaxations. One of the main reasons why the Prime Minister is holding back on the subject…
