Unemployment insurance rules extended until December 31

The current rules were due to expire on October 31, after two extensions since June and the abandonment of a reform carried out by the former Attal government to tighten access conditions and compensation rules.

The social partners began flash negotiations on 22 October to define new rules, at the request of the Barnier government, which wants to obtain more savings from the system. They aim to reach an agreement by 15 November.

These negotiations are taking place in an ultra-constrained budgetary context, with the Minister of Labor Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet having asked the social partners to find 400 million euros in additional savings per year, compared to a first agreement signed in November 2023 by the CFDT, FO, the CFTC and the employers' organization. An agreement which then came up against the issue of seniors.

Prime Minister Michel Barnier announced in his general policy statement his desire to give back control to social partners on the subject of unemployment insurance.

His predecessor Gabriel Attal had presented new rules in May 2024 that tightened the compensation regime. But the corresponding decree was never published due to the dissolution of the National Assembly.