FOOD CHECK. The establishment of the food voucher is debated within the majority. Amount, beneficiaries, products concerned, nothing is tied up yet.
[Mis à jour le 7 juin 2022 à 08h53] The food check turns out to be “complicated to implement“in the words of the Minister of the Economy, in the program Le Grand Rendez-vous” Europe 1 – CNews – Les Echos, Sunday June 5. And the debates continue even within the majority. The nature of the products raises questions, should all products be eligible for the food voucher, only certain food products, organic, French… Difficult to see clearly for the moment, but the executive should speak on the subject at the end of June, following the general elections on 12th and 19th June next. The amount of the food check should be between 30 and 60 euros. If the LREM group does not obtain a majority in the National Assembly, it will be difficult to implement this bill as initially planned. The next few weeks promise to be decisive, and should make it possible to learn more about the method of payment of this food check, its amount, and its exact beneficiaries.
Regarding the beneficiaries, the Minister of Agriculture Julien Denormandie Talk about “young people and families with children on low incomes“, The head of state Emmanuel Macron mentions for its part the “lower and middle classes“. In summary, it is still not clear. Julien Denormandie had tried to provide more details at the microphone of Jean-Jacques Bourdin in April 2022: “Today, the number of people affected by this nutritional inequality is 8 million people. Me, my priority, among them, are young people, 18-25 year olds“With less than two weeks before the first round of the legislative elections, and just a month before the potential study of the purchasing power bill in the Council of Ministers on June 29, a decision will have to be made, and quickly.
If Emmanuel Macron is re-elected and sets up this new aid, the food check should be a device aimed at the most deprived people. Emmanuel Macron spoke of “lower classes” and “middle classes” at France Bleu on March 22, 2022. What will be the criteria? Will there be a threshold of reference tax income not to exceed ? For the moment, these questions have not yet been arbitrated. At this stage, several leads are on the table. In 2021, the Ministry of the Economy defended the idea that the system be entrusted to the municipal centers for social action (CCAS), thus targeting 5 million beneficiaries, a track also presented by the citizens of the Citizens’ Convention in their report.
The Minister of Agriculture, he leaned more towards aid for “young people or families with children on low incomes”, in the form of a check or card. The idea is also carried by the deputy of Paris, Mounir Mahjoubi, who defends a project close to that of Julien Denormandie.
Charities, they estimate that the number of potential beneficiaries is much higher, at 8 million. According to a survey by the CSA institute, more than a million French people have used food banks since the start of the health crisis last March. “Having less than a million beneficiaries would not be useful; the real target would be between six and eight million,” said MP Mounir Mahjoubi in an interview with West-France in spring 2021.
The amount of the food check is not yet known. For the time being, only the deputy for Paris, Mounir Mahjoubi, has presented a quantified proposal, with a check whose price would be between 30 and 60 euro per month per family. “The total budget could then rise from a few hundred million to two billion euros,” the deputy had indicated in February 2021 to West France. “Afterwards, this will come into confrontation with other proposals, such as specific allocations for the Covid period. This is the whole subject of the discussions which are taking place at governmental level”, he added then. The powerful agricultural union FNSEA offers a device that would allow you to spend 5 euros a day. Invited by Jean-Jacques Bourdin on April 21, 2021, Julien Denormandie had advanced the amount of 50 euros per month. Regarding the means of payment, nothing has been decided yet. Cheque, credit card or bank transfer, you will have to wait a few more weeks to find out more.
The establishment of a food check has been announced for almost two years by Emmanuel Macron. But its implementation has never been so close, it should take place after the legislative elections scheduled for 12 and 19 June next, in the event of a majority obtained in the National Assembly by TheREM.
Will young people be the first beneficiaries of Emmanuel Macron’s food check? Invited by Jean-Jacques Bourdin on April 21, 2022, the Minister of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie, said he was in favor of it, while indicating that the arbitrations had not yet been made. “Today, we have not finished the job,” he admitted, while the decisions were to be made at the end of March. “Today, the number of people affected by this nutritional inequality is 8 million people. For me, my priority, among them, are young people, 18-25 year olds”. He also slipped that the amount of 50 euros was on the table.
The Fund of Family allowances does not currently allocate food vouchers on a national scale but could be the body responsible for this system, linked to the social aid it already pays. At the local level, certain food aid schemes can already be put in place. It is advisable to contact the social action department of your fund. On its dedicated site, the Caf de Saône-et-Loire notably highlighted the implementation of one-off aid in April 2020, in order to help the poorest to buy basic food products. The device was then aimed at beneficiaries of family benefits, APL, RSA and the activity bonus.
The priority of Emmanuel Macron and his government is fruit and vegetables. And French if possible, from short circuits, and organic! This food check could be used in the supermarket or on the stalls of your local markets. According to many indiscretions disseminated in recent weeks, the amount should be fixed around 60 eurosfor an envelope of 4 to 6 billion cost for the State.
The municipal social assistance centres, the CCAS, could have a central role in the allocation of the future food voucher. The Ministry of the Economy defended in any case in 2021 the idea that the municipal centers for social action ensure the distribution (read below). In fact, the CCAS already play a decisive role with the most precarious. They can indeed deliver aid, either in the form of aid in kind (food parcels), or financial aid (aid for school catering, food vouchers or vouchers, personalized support check, etc.).
Would you like to know if your municipality grants food stamps? Turn to your CCAS, because the devices vary from one locality to another. In the Somme department, for example, the CCAS de la town of albert has set up vouchers worth 25 euros since June 2020. The number of vouchers varies according to the composition of the household from 4 to 7 vouchers “distributed for a renewable period of 2 months”.
Here too, the list must be subject to arbitration soon. In their report, the citizens of the Citizen’s Convention for the Climate, at the origin of the project via a presentation in 2021, defended a device allowing the purchase of “sustainable products (from agroecology, short circuits)” . “The term “sustainable” is usually used as designating the 50% of products that must enter into the composition of meals in collective catering (…) resulting from the EGALIM law”, could we read in their report.
“The LREM group offers to offer food vouchers (…) [qui] would make it possible to acquire virtuous products as specified in the Egalim law: fresh products with a sign of quality – organic type or labels – with priority on fruits and vegetables”, then explained the deputy LREM Mounir Mahjoubi in 2021 to the daily regional West France. “Opening up to other more expensive products would not necessarily be significant in the family basket. For us, 85% of the money invested will then have to go back to the farmers. We are however well aware that in certain working-class and urban constituencies, who have few sales in short circuits or on the farm, nothing will be possible if we do not work with large retailers”. The scenario defended by Bercy, which proposes to assign this competence to the CCAS, is also on this line. “The State would therefore pay the difference between a normal food basket and a basket meeting the sustainable criteria (organic, red label, IGP, etc.) defined by the Egalim law of 2018”, can we read in The echoes.