“We cannot afford it”: the food check will ultimately not see the light of day, announces Bruno Le Maire

“Let’s forget check policies, we can’t afford them today”. This Sunday, January 7, the Minister of Economy and Finance made an announcement: the food voucher project is now ancient history. It’s on the microphone of Sunday in Politicson France 3, that Bruno Le Maire explained about this abandonment of a campaign promise from Emmanuel Macron. To justify this choice, he cites the complexity of the system, as well as a lack of resources.

Contrary to what Emmanuel Macron had promised, food checks will ultimately not see the light of day. Originally planned to deal with inflation, the measure remained on the cards without having been officially abandoned. It’s been done since yesterday. Questioned by journalist Francis Letellier on France 3, Bruno Le Maire admitted that this project was now buried.

To justify this choice, the Minister of the Economy recalls the complexity of the system and explains that the government has “notcan’t afford it today” for a project of this magnitude. As a reminder, food checks were to be distributed to the poorest households. To benefit from it, it was enough to benefit from the RSA, the Disabled Adult Allowance, the minimum old age, or Personalized Housing Assistance. According to several sources, around 9 million French people were therefore affected by this system.

Bruno Le Maire, however, made a promise: even if the food voucher project ultimately does not succeed, the purchasing power of the French will increase.

The Minister of the Economy assures us: “I’m sure some prices will drop”. According to him, these price reductions will have repercussions on the finances of the French “as soon as commercial negotiations have concluded”, i.e. January 31. “Last year, when there was a commercial negotiation, there was a 15% price increase. Today, we are more around 5%. It’s always too muchhe declares, still on the set of Sunday in politics, My responsibility is to ensure that prices fall on as many products as possible (…) You will have price reductions on butter, on oils, on certain products such as poultry, on certain meats, not just stabilization“. Before recalling that whatever happens, prices will never return to the levels known before the start of the inflationary crisis…