Pensions, unemployment, wages, safety, environment and more. The die is cast: after presenting the first tranche of his program last week, French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has completed his proposal, which mainly includes the awaited pension reform. The young leader of the liberal-progressive movement “En marche!” and former Economy Minister with Hollande, he explained that he will make the pension system more equitable and uniform, without touching the retirement age, while his closest opponents, the favorite Marine Le Pen and the centre-right candidate François Fillon, would like to lower and raise it, respectively. Here are the main changes point by point.
PENSIONS
“The society I want will be both free from blocks and constraints and protective of the weakest,” Macron said, illustrating the manifesto. Macron first of all wants to ease the big differences between the pensions of state and private employees, keeping the retirement age at 62 and establishing a single regime, which replaces the 37 currently in force. "The new system will be calculated based on life expectancy, which is not the same for a factory worker or an executive," added the centrist candidate.
WORK
Currently, unemployment in France has risen to 9,7%, close to the dangerous threshold of 10%: Macron's goal is to bring the rate back to 7% by the end of the presidential term, i.e. by 2022. The plan envisages to penalize employers who use too many short-term contracts, pushing for the use of permanent contracts especially in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods. It's called "positive discrimination": the government will identify 200 priority neighborhoods in the area, and will give a bonus of 15 euros over three years (for each hiring) to companies that hire citizens of those areas, mostly banlieues or poor neighborhoods. Not only that: Macron has also said he wants to raise the allowances for the disabled and the elderly by 100 euros a month.
UNEMPLOYMENT
The labor reform also passes through some changes relating to the unemployment benefit system: Macron wants extend the right to the allowance also to resigning workersprovided only once every five years. On the other hand, however, the subsidy will no longer be paid if the unemployed were to refuse more than two job offers judged "decent", or with a salary lower than no more than 20-25% at most compared to that of the previous job.
PURCHASING POWER
Macron intends to increase wages without putting his hands in the pockets of taxpayers. Instead, he will focus on a reduction in contributions equal, for example, to 500 euros net per year for those who earn 2.200 net per month. The SMIC, the minimum wage, will also be increased: 100 euros more per month, practically an extra salary a year to boost consumption. Another novelty: overtime contributions will not be paid.
POLICY
The candidate, not yet 40, proposes a law for the moralization of public life. First of all, politicians will be prohibited from occupying positions on company boards, then parliamentarians will have to declare all their remunerative activities, including allowances, to the tax authorities. But above all Macron wants reduce the number of MPs by a third themselves, "not so much to save money as for the need for transparency and efficiency", he explained. There are currently 577 members of the National Assembly and 346 members of the Senate, an overall number similar to that of Italian parliamentarians.
HEALTH
Macron has the 100% reimbursement of expenses for glasses, dental and hearing aids between now and 2022. A 5 billion plan which also provides for the doubling of nursing homes in the area, to make up for the phenomenon of "medical deserts". "I will not touch any jobs in public health", had already specified the leader of "En marche!" a week ago.
CAR BONUS
As regards environmental policies, which already envisage a progressive abandonment of nuclear power, a new program has also been added 15 billion investment to finance the replacement of polluting vehicles through a 1.000 euro incentive for those who buy another vehicle, new or second-hand, which is less polluting.
SECURITY
Macron wants to create 10.000 more police jobs (in addition to the 9.000 already produced under the Hollande presidency), restoring the figure of the neighborhood policeman that had been suppressed by Nicolas Sarkozy. On the other hand, no reform of the judicial system is envisaged, but the creation of 15.000 more places for prisoners in prisons throughout the country.
TERRORISM
First of all, the program foresees a turning point in the culture of integration: "The headscarf will not be banned in the university", guaranteed Macron regarding the controversy over the 1905 law and the secular state. However, attention is also directed to strengthening the armed forces, increasing the military budget to 2% of GDP. The centrist candidate also said himself against the “déchéance de nationalité”, or the possibility of withdrawing French nationality from an unworthy or disloyal citizen, especially in the case of links with Islamic terrorism.
EUROPA
Macron is, among the candidates for the presidency of the French Republic, the most convinced pro-European: therefore, in addition to the proposal for a common energy and digital market, he has also added the extension of the Erasmus project, so as to send up to 200 French students abroad every year.
