The General Delegate of the Abbé Pierre Foundation believes that France is one of the least generous in Europe with young people. According to Christophe Robert, we are one of the only European countries not to have “protection with an open right for those under 25”. It is rather true.
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“We have fought all five years to finally ask that for young people who are in family breakdown, there is the RSA for those under 25. We are one of the only European countries where there is no this protection with an open right for those under 25”, denounced the general delegate of the Abbé Pierre Foundation, Christophe Robert, interviewed on Wednesday February 3 on franceinfo.
The RSA (Active Solidarity Income) is in principle only open to people aged over 25. However, there are exceptions allowing some young people to receive this minimum income even if they are under 25 years old. “If you are pregnant or already have a dependent child, you can collect the RSA under certain conditions. You don’t have to be over 25.”, indicates the site service-public.fr. If you already have a dependent child or if you have worked full-time for at least two years during the last three years, you can also receive the RSA from the age of 18. Thus, 90,000 young people under the age of 25 were able to receive the RSA at the end of 2018.
Christophe Robert is right to say that France is rather an exception in Europe in this area. In a parliamentary report published in 2016, the authors explain that “this age condition appears unique in view of the European situation”. And to specify that at European level, “the majority of states” open their national schemes to young people. This is also confirmed by a CAF study published in 2020. “France is one of the only four countries in the European Union in which the minimum age for accessing the minimum income is higher than the age of majority”, can we read. France, Spain, Luxembourg and Cyprus are indeed the most restrictive on this age condition.
However, European comparisons have their limits. There are many subtleties depending on the country. The report of the deputy Christophe Sirugue entitled “Rethinking the social minima”, mentions in particular two categories of country. On the one hand, countries that pay an income to young people even if they still live with their parents: in Denmark and the Netherlands in particular. Others, such as Germany or Portugal, are still a little more strict and condition the payment of their social minima on the fact that the young person is no longer a student and no longer lives in the family home.