The general secretary of Secours populaire, Henriette Steinberg, is not convinced by the measures announced by the government as part of its plan to combat poverty. The association fears that it will not be sufficient given the influx of new requests for aid.
“Between the announcements and the reality known by Secours populaire, there is a gap that continues to widen”, believes its general secretary, Henriette Steinberg, unconvinced by the plan to fight poverty presented Monday in Matignon by the Prime Minister. The community activist was the guest of the show “Ma France” on France Bleu this Tuesday noon.
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The government unveiled its new strategy to combat poverty on Monday in Matignon. He presented a plan after eight months of successive postponements. This plan intends “respond to the urgency of the social situation” current and “correct structural inequalities”, expressed Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne in her presentation speech. Among the concrete measures, it offers free breakfasts at school, a return to work bonus, the conservation of emergency accommodation places, and the distribution of energy checks.
The plan increases from 8 to 16 billion euros
The first plan, launched in 2018, allocated 8 billion euros in aid over four years. The government wants to double this figure, rising to 16 billion euros. “I am quite incapable of having an opinion on the effects of the increase from 8 to 16 billion eurosreacts Henriette Steinberg. We have more and more families, more and more single people, more and more elderly people, more and more single mothers who come to Secours populaire because they no longer know how to do things, not only to to honor their bills, but also to ensure the subsistence of their family. I do not disagree that significant funds are mobilized, but we do not see them concretely arriving”.
“We are very worried about the disappearance of local public services, of possible receptions in different places in the territory, to receive people.”
Henriette Steinbergat franceinfo
Secours populaire is present in 1,300 locations across the country but “we do not replace and we are not intended to replace all public services, we simply cannot”. But for its general secretary, “the only way for it to work is to meet people and have services that meet people. The hypothesis that volunteers could replace public services, which would close for other objectives, is perfectly unhearable. And we have the strange impression that there is a trend in this matter”.
Secours populaire deplores the closure of reception sites: “The local reception centers are being removed and replaced by computers. Smartphones and computers are not going to solve the problem.”
No increase in social minimums or APL
The government plan to combat poverty does not provide for an increase in social minimums or APLs. “What I deplore is a sort of gap between what we are experiencing, the meetings with people and the image which seems to be imprinted in the brains of those who produce the measures or the documents. All those who are in difficulty, they are people like us. The idea that they are a category to be looked at, that is not okay. Young couples who both work and who cannot make it, that is something that is common today in our country”concludes the general secretary of Secours populaire.