Members of Parliament suspended their work on Friday due to the parliamentary recess related to the municipal elections, without having completed their examination of the bill against fraud. A formal vote on the entire text is still scheduled for March 31, but its inclusion on the agenda must be confirmed for debates to resume.
Before the suspension, the Assembly adopted a measure providing for the precautionary suspension of unemployment benefits in cases of suspected fraud. The article was approved by 30 votes to 19, with the support of Macron's group, the right wing, and the far right, while the left wing voted against it.
Suspension of benefits and debates on data
The government advocates a structured procedure, with avenues for appeal and a three-month time limit. It emphasizes the need to avoid the payment of benefits that would be difficult to recover in cases of proven fraud, particularly for undeclared work or falsified documents. Amendments aimed at guaranteeing a minimum amount to ensure a "living allowance" during the suspension period were also supported.
The left denounced the measure as disproportionate and too focused on social welfare fraud, to the detriment of tax fraud. The legislation also includes expanding the debt collection tools available to France Travail (the French employment agency) and strengthening information sharing between government departments. These provisions have drawn criticism, particularly after the revelation of a cyberattack that exposed the data of nearly 15 million people in the healthcare sector.
According to the government, the measures as a whole could recover between one and two billion euros in the short term, and up to three billion in the medium term.
