R.S.A.: More demagogic, you die!
During the latest controversy sparked by the shameful comments of the Minister of European Affairs, Laurent WAUQUIEZ, who stigmatized R.S.A. recipients and the “culture of dependency,” the President of the General Council, who is also a deputy, once again sadly stood out by supporting these ministerial declarations, even though they were severely criticized by many representatives of his own party. “Demagogic,” “irresponsible,” and “unworkable” are some of the terms used by right-wing leaders to describe WAUQUIEZ’s “proposals” regarding R.S.A. beneficiaries, whom he believes are to blame for their precarious situation!
But the President of the General Council doesn’t care and, without a shadow of hesitation, heaped on more by repeating the refrain of “social welfare fraud,” which was already hammered out last year, disregarding the reality of the figures. Last year’s figures actually showed that fraud represented only 0.012% of the total amount of benefits paid, which is infinitely less than the 1.9 billion euros in employer fraud for unpaid Social Security contributions. Eric CIOTTI has also explicitly linked social benefit entitlement to the obligation to accept any job, in the questionnaire to the public that he widely publicized!
However, anyone can observe, just by looking around them, the number of jobs destroyed in recent years (over 750,000 jobs lost in France in the last 36 months) and the difficulty for those affected by unemployment to find stable and adequately paid work.
For the vast majority of R.S.A. recipients, the primary goal is precisely this: to escape the spiral of precariousness and the proliferation of underpaid temporary contracts offering no sustainable professional prospects.
Having criticized, at its inception, the potential adverse effects of such a framework with “windfall effects” allowing the availability of cheap labor subject to exploitation, communist representatives are even more comfortable denouncing political speeches that aim to point the finger at the most vulnerable to mask the complete failure of an economic policy that serves solely the financial powers.
A completely different policy is more necessary and urgent than ever to create sustainable jobs and wealth for our country. However, this would require the willingness to challenge the “friends of Fouquet’s” rather than targeting those who already suffer from the consequences of this disastrous policy.
And it is certainly not the reduction of 150 million, or -37.05% in two years, in investment by the General Council that will help reverse this trend and “value and encourage work,” as Eric CIOTTI says.
Jacques VICTOR
General Councilor
President of ADECR 06
