PS deputies want to tackle drug shortages

It is soon the turn of the Socialist Party to have control of the agenda of the National Assembly, via what we call parliamentary niches. The socialist deputies particularly wish to tackle this problem which affects many French people.

The socialist group in the Assembly will have control of the agenda of the hemicycle on February 29, as part of its parliamentary niche. One month before, Tuesday January 30, the socialists will unveil their proposed laws, which will be examined on February 14 in committees. PS deputies will defend a text to fight against drug shortages. “A subject that ruins people’s lives, when they can’t find doliprane or medication for their children’s asthma.”, insists the PS group. In their proposed law, they cite the France ASSOS Santé barometer: more than one in three French people faced a pharmacy shortage in 2023.

To remedy this, the socialists are not proposing radical measures such as nationalization of the pharmaceutical industry, but measures that they hope “votable” by other parties. Namely increasing the obligation to stock medicines which falls to manufacturers, and at the same time increasing the financial sanctions for laboratories which do not respect these obligations. Today, the sanction cannot exceed one million euros. The socialists want to multiply it by five, because five million will be much more dissuasive in their eyes.

Freeze public transport fares during the Olympics

The Socialist Party will have other texts in its parliamentary niche, including a bill which plans to extend regulated electricity prices to small businesses, particularly farmers. This text was voted on Wednesday January 24 thanks to LR in the Senate. The PS sees it as a way to respond, in part, to agricultural anger. There will also be a proposal that will displease Valérie Pécresse. The PS deputies want to freeze the prices of public transport in Ile-de-France during the Olympic Games, the LR president of the Île-de-France region having announced the metro ticket at 4 euros next summer, and 70 euros for the weekly pass. It remains to find allies in the hemicycle on all these subjects because there are only 31 socialist deputies but the niches remain an effective way of highlighting one’s priorities.

An LR proposal to support French agriculture

Without waiting for the government’s responses to the agricultural crisis, LR tabled a bill on Friday January 26 to prohibit the importation of what is prohibited from being produced in France, such as Maghreb tomatoes treated with a pesticide banned for 15 years in Europe. According to Antoine Vermorel, the Loire MP who initiated the text, this represents 10 billion euros in shortfall for French agriculture. This is already theoretically prohibited by the EGalim law but it targets the seller, your supermarket, and not the importer. The right therefore wants to target importers with a sanction identical to what a farmer who uses banned pesticides risks: six months in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros.