solidarity actors ask Gabriel Attal for “clarification” on the “government’s determination”

“We cannot act as if nothing had happened and go to greeting ceremonies as if we had not made decisions which are disorderly decisions,” says Pascal Brice, the president of the FAS.

Pascal Brice, president of the Federation of Solidarity Actors (FAS) asked Thursday January 11 on franceinfo for a “clarification” of the new Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, “on the government’s determination to give itself the long-term means to fight against increasing poverty in the country”. The cold spell that occurred in part of the territory a few days ago showed the limits of the authorities in sheltering the most vulnerable people. “The associations are at their wits’ end because we are in a system that is sick”alerted Pascal Brice, also denouncing a “deleterious atmosphere for society” since the adoption of the immigration law. He warned Gabriel Attal that he would no longer participate in work meetings or greeting ceremonies while awaiting the decision of the Constitutional Council on the immigration law. “We can’t act like nothing happened.”he said.

franceinfo: Some people have no solution. For lack of money or political will?

Pascal Brice: The associations are at their wits’ end because we are in a system that is sick. It is a terrible and unbearable reminder that these people die of cold in the streets in France today. You have accommodation places opening up, but there are insufficient numbers. They open, they close. We should be able to address the reasons why there are people on the streets. We know very well who is on the streets in France today. These are young people coming out of child welfare. These are men and women who have serious psychological problems and who are not supported where they should be. These are foreigners who arrive in our country and who are without solution. We must provide urgent and lasting responses.

Patrice Vergriete, Minister of Housing, announced 120 million euros in additional aid to open 10,000 reception places for women and children. Are we seeing concrete results today?

I welcome this decision by the Minister of Housing because there are still people on the streets. We actually need to open up places. But we will not get away with this policy based on the thermometer. This is not how we are going to resolve the issue in the country. What worries the associations is that with the rise in prices, more and more people are in food distribution, it is the budgets which are falling with inflation, it is the immigration law which imposes that people will have more difficulty accessing housing and work. They will find themselves even more on the street.

“The statements of a Prime Minister who tells you, like a Minister of Finance: ‘In this country, the real scandal is that there are people who work for people who do not work,’ this atmosphere -this is harmful to society.”

Pascal Brice, president of the Federation of Solidarity Actors

at franceinfo

I asked the Prime Minister for clarification. We need clear answers about the government’s determination to give itself the long-term means to fight against increasing poverty in the country.

What concrete measures do you expect from the new Prime Minister ?

First, a clarification. Do we really agree to say that in this country, there are men and women who must be supported towards work, this is what our associations do, but there are others for whom it will be complicated. We cannot put pressure on them by trying to make them believe that they are profiteers. Secondly, that we actually give ourselves the means to have the places we need over time with social support for accommodation. It’s not: “I take people for three days in a gym and I put them back on the street.” We are asking for measures to overcome the enormous breakdown in social housing in this country which means that there are no prospects. We are asking for job prospects for foreign people who must be regularized quickly. A state of mind which is not: “We are going to hit the most fragile because that would be the strength of a country”. No !

“A country is strong when work is paid and we take care of those who are vulnerable.”

Pascal Brice

at franceinfo

In a letter addressed to Gabriel Attal, you inform him that you are withdrawing from any work meeting or greeting ceremony while awaiting the decision of the Constitutional Council on the immigration law. For what ?

We can’t act like nothing happened. We cannot act as if a law had not been passed in the conditions in which it was passed which decrees that the integration of foreigners in France is finished and which installs obstacles to access to work, to access to housing and which does not provide any of the necessary elements to control immigration in the country. We are waiting for answers. The associations are working with state partners. The State must tell us very clearly that this shift towards stigmatization of the most vulnerable stops. Let us stop denouncing the most vulnerable and give ourselves the means to pay for work for the middle and working classes who work and solidarity towards employment and social support. As soon as the Constitutional Council has made its decisions and the government has provided its clarifications, we will obviously be there. But we cannot act as if nothing had happened and go to vow ceremonies as if we had not made decisions which are messy decisions.