"Zero long-term unemployment territories": the government is worried about the survival of the scheme

Launched in 2016, the "zero long-term unemployment territories" (TZCLD) allow some workers to return to employment with permanent contracts with chosen working hours in "employment-focused companies" (EBE) created specifically.

Widely praised for its effectiveness by local elected officials, associations and parliamentarians after ten years of experimentation, the system is due to disappear at the end of 2026 if no law is passed in Parliament.

A bill proposed by MP Stéphane Viry (Liot group), adopted in the National Assembly at the end of January with the support of the government, should allow its continuation.

The Senate, which was considering it on Tuesday evening, could have definitively validated it provided that no amendments to the text were voted on.

But while supporting the general principles of the scheme, the senators did not wish to give the government such carte blanche. They introduced several changes, notably removing the mandatory financial contribution of departments to the TZCLD (Zones de Confinement à la Loi à Long Term), in the name of "local government autonomy."

This is a major setback for the government, which will now have to find a moment in the National Assembly's overloaded agenda to put this text back on the agenda for a second reading, without any certainty about the outcome of the vote in this chamber lacking a clear majority.

"My concern for the future of this text remains entirely," warned the Minister for Relations with Parliament, Laurent Panifous, who spent several hours trying to convince the Senate to approve it with a "compliant" vote, even committing to take into account the senators' questions through regulatory means.

"We cannot guarantee that this bill will complete its parliamentary process before the end of the year," he warned, calling for "visibility" to be provided to the more than 4.300 affected employees in 83 regions, who fear losing their jobs. His position was shared, in particular, by the Socialist group.

But the Senate majority, an alliance between the right and the center, remained inflexible, blaming the executive's lack of preparation.

"The urgency invoked cannot lead the Senate to relinquish its right to improve the system," said Senator Frédérique Puissat of Les Républicains, annoyed at being presented with a fait accompli.

She notably assured that, as a last resort, a further extension of the scheme will always be conceivable at the last minute in the draft finance bill in the autumn, which has already been done last year.