End of a period of legal vagueness and uncertainty for the nearly six million employees who use meal vouchers on a daily basis to pay for part of their food purchases of non-directly consumable goods. This exemption, first introduced in the purchasing power law of summer 2022, was renewed on January 14, by a final vote of the Senate.
The senators adopted, without modification, the bill transmitted in the fall by the deputies, to once again extend this expanded use of restoration titles, this time for a period of two years, until December 31, 2026. The Senate therefore returned to the modifications of the Social Affairs Committee. This had reduced the exemption system to one year, a period of time which it considered sufficient to prepare a general reform, to take into account new uses of work. This extension, always temporary, provokes strong opposition from restaurateurs. Their market share in the use of meal vouchers has fallen over the last two years from 46% to 40%, according to a study by the National Commission for Meal Vouchers (CNTR).
“Emergency prevails”, according to the rapporteur of the Social Affairs Committee
The two assemblies therefore adopted the bill in the same terms, making its adoption definitive, therefore paving the way for rapid promulgation. Due to the motion of censure, and the adjournment of parliamentary legislative work, the Senate was unable to vote on the bill. However, the possibility of using meal vouchers for any type of food produced – including pasta, meat or even flour – was no longer legally possible since 1is January. In fact, however, customers were able to use their paper tickets and payment cards at many points of sale, since the computer systems were not updated.
“Urgency trumps principle,” argued rapporteur (LR) Marie-Do Aeschlimann, emphasizing the “pragmatism” of her colleagues. Before the disruption of the parliamentary calendar, the Social Affairs Committee agreed to limit the extension to one year, i.e. the duration of the initial text tabled by MP (LR) Anne-Laure Blin. “This duration made it possible to avoid a form of latent perpetuation, but also to encourage a more ambitious and rapid reform of meal vouchers, capable of satisfying employers, issuers and restaurateurs in particular,” explained Marie-Do Aeschlimann.
December 26, 2026, a “deadline” before the implementation of a reform on the meal voucher framework
“This two-year postponement and a deadline, but nothing prevents us from putting in place the new system that we will build together, well before the end of this period,” underlined Véronique Louwagie, Minister responsible for Commerce, Crafts, Small and Medium Enterprises and the Social and Solidarity Economy. The minister has set herself the objective of “presenting the broad outlines of the reform this summer”. She will relaunch the consultation work, initiated under her predecessors, “in the coming weeks”.
“It is obvious that we must rely on in-depth elements to guarantee a balanced reform, which leaves no one behind,” said Xavier Iacovelli, Renaissance senator, supporter of the perpetuation of the expanded use of restaurant vouchers.
The amendments reducing the duration of the extension from one to two years were adopted by 221 votes to 117, mainly left-wing votes. Socialists, ecologists and communists have notably called for sustainable responses to the purchasing power crisis. “The year 2024 should have been an opportunity to put in place structural provisions to support remuneration,” argued socialist Annie Le Houérou. The latter also believes that the restaurant voucher must “rediscover its original vocation, but in a renovated framework”.
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