Unemployment of cross-border workers: Paris must negotiate with Bern

Faced with the desire of some to modify the current rules regarding unemployment compensation for cross-border workers residing in France, the parliamentarians of Haute-Savoie are mobilizing.

In a joint letter dated this Tuesday, the six deputies Virginie Duby Muller, Véronique Riotton, Danièle Carteron, Christèle Petex, Anne-Cécile Violland et Xavier Rosen, as well as the three senators Sylviane Noël, Loïc Hervéet Cyril Pellevat of the department call the French Minister of Labor and Employment, Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet“to begin immediate negotiations with Switzerland on the subject of border unemployment”.

Savings context

The nine parliamentarians react to the comments made in mid-October by the Minister in «L’Opinion». Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet indicates that she wants to revise the European system of unemployment compensation for cross-border workers with the aim of finding savings, because these job seekers weigh heavily on theUnédic (the association responsible for managing unemployment insurance in France). His statements come at a time when France is in a critical financial situation and the government is seeking to reduce spending.

As a reminder, according to the European rules in this areaEuropean cross-border workers contribute in the country in which they work. But, in the event of job loss, it is their country of residence that pays their unemployment benefits.

A financial compensation system exists between States. This provides that the former country of employment pays between three and five months of unemployment benefits to the country of residence. But the amounts received from the country of employment by the country of residence may be insufficient depending on the circumstances. This is the case in France for Unédic.

“Huge” additional cost for France

The number of unemployed cross-border workers in France is increasing, their duration of compensation and the amount of their allowances also being higher than those of other beneficiaries, these unemployed workers are very expensive for the organization.

In a recent reportUnédic calculates that in 2023, it will have paid 1 billion euros in compensation to the 77,000 unemployed cross-border workers previously working in the four main neighboring employment countries of Switzerland, Germany and Luxembourg. and Belgium. But he only received 200 million euros in reimbursement from these. Results: the additional cost reaches 803 million euros in 2023. And 9 billion euros cumulative between 2011 and 2023 (see above).

“Unfair situation”

Elected officials want “a solution that is fairer for France’s public finances, without this producing negative consequences for workers,” writes Virginie Duby-Muller in a press release.

“The current system causes a significant imbalance to the disadvantage of France’s finances,” laments the MP for the fourth constituency of Haute-Savoie (immediately bordering the canton of Geneva).

“The Swiss authorities can change this situation which is unfair, given the amount of contributions collected. We regularly have discussions with them and I believe that in terms of responsibility things can change positively. It is a demanding and necessary debate that we must have with our Swiss neighbor,” she concludes.

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Fabrice Breithaupt is a journalist and editorial secretary. He deals with Franco-Swiss cross-border issues, but also real estate, employment and training. He has been a PR journalist since 1995 (radio, then written press).More info

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