Better-paying work: "a debate that deserves to be opened" for Amélie de Montchalin

She was interviewed on RMC the day after President Emmanuel Macron's interview on TF1, during which he called for the opening of a "project" on this subject, with unions and employers' organizations.

The head of state suggested "looking for money outside of work alone," particularly through "consumption."

An elliptical way of reviving the controversial issue of "social VAT", consisting of transferring reductions in charges weighing on work towards an increase of a few points in VAT.

"(Apart from) VAT, there are plenty of other solutions," Ms. de Montchalin suggested. "What I want is for us to have the debate (...), "it's not the government alone in its corner that will authoritatively say 'that's how it is'."

"We discuss, we decide, on the budget and through compromise," she summarized.

"We have two years to act," the minister noted, before the presidential election. "Until then, we have a responsibility: to put the issues on the table, find consensus, and put ourselves in a collective mode where we either watch the trains go by or act, with the French people."

A reform of social protection financing is being demanded by all employers' organisations, with the Medef and the CPME being in favour of social VAT.

Last Tuesday, drawing on the work of essayist Antoine Foucher, "Getting Out of Work That No Longer Pays," the third employers' organization, the U2P, suggested, in order to increase net salaries, eliminating the CSG-CRDS (General Social Contribution) for all those who work over five years, and distributing these 116 billion euros as compensation through a mixture of VAT increases, additional taxation of dividends, property income and inheritance, and an increased contribution from retirees.

"The battle of ideas is progressing," Mr. Foucher told AFP, "then there will be the political battle."