In France, debates will resume the week of November 4 concerning the 2025 finance bill, with more than 1,500 amendments to be examined. This week, it is the Social Security budget which is being debated in the hemicycle. The government is seeking a total of 60 billion euros in savings to reduce the public deficit and if most of the measures envisaged are known, the government detailed on Sunday October 27 how it intended to obtain 5 billion.
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Civil servants in particular are in the government’s sights. The public service is called upon to contribute with 1.2 billion euros in expected savings. First measure: increase the waiting days, three days compared to only one currently. Faced with the sharp increase in absenteeism at work, it is also planned to pay civil servants less during their first months of sick leave.
The government also finds these 5 billion savings by tapping into what are called the precautionary reserves of ministries, credits generally set aside in the event of force majeure. Savings estimated at 2.6 billion. However, the Ministries of Defense, Interior, Justice and Higher Education are spared.
Finally, public policies also take a hit: a clear drop in development aid, which helps fight poverty.
The government also plans 50 million euros less for culture and 300 million less for ecological measures such as those which support the greening of vehicles.
“ I know that the plan I reveal will be debated », Recognized the Minister of the Civil Service, Guillaume Kasbarian, in an interview with Le Figaro. “ We must have the courage to make difficult decisions today, to avoid even more difficult choices in the future, on massive reductions in staff numbers for example. “, he warned.
For his part, Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin announced in The Parisian that the 5 billion savings would translate into a “ extra effort » 1,000 fewer public jobs (full-time equivalents). They are in addition to the 2,200 civil servant positions that the government wants to eliminate in the draft budget.