the proposals of the presidential candidates on the allowance for disabled adults

Seven presidential candidates or representatives of contenders for the Elysée took part on Wednesday March 23 in Handébat 2022, at the Maison de la Radio et la Musique, in Paris, organized by several associations and of which Radio France is a partner.

They were each invited to position themselves for or against the deconjugalization of the allowance for disabled adults (AAH), which allows those who benefit from it to have a minimum of resources. Currently, the income of the spouse is indeed taken into account in the calculation of this aid. With the exception of the representative of the president-candidate, Emmanuel Macron, they all voted in favor.

The candidate of the National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen, who had made the trip, thus estimated that taking into account the income of the spouse, in the calculation of the AAH “aims to deny the individual character of disability”. The socialist candidate, Anne Hidalgo, also present, considered that deconjugalization is a question “autonomy” for people with disabilities. The representatives of Jean-Luc Mélenchon (La France insoumise), Fabien Roussel (French Communist Party), Valérie Pécresse (Les Républicains) and Éric Zemmour (Reconquête!, far-right) also explained, in front of the audience, that their candidate is for this measurement.

The only dissonant voice on this point, the representative of Emmanuel Macron, Sophie Cluzel, explained that he was not in favor of the deconjugalization of the AAH because “it is a social benefit that follows exactly the same line as all the other social benefits, that is to say that when you are in a couple, you take the couple’s income, as for the active solidarity income (RSA ), as for the AAH, as for the solidarity allowance for the elderly (ASPA)”.

“I am often told that we suffer from the handicap, and not the rest, we also suffer from poverty unfortunately and we also suffer from old age.”

Sophie Cluzel, Secretary of State for People with Disabilities

Handebat 2022

“What the president and the candidate reaffirms is ‘yes, let’s look at all the social benefits at that time’, in order to change policy at that time, no longer rely on family solidarity and at that time -there work on all the income, resources of people, but whoever they are, with disabilities or not”, she added. In a video broadcast for the first time, on the occasion of Handébat 2022, Emmanuel Macron recalled the revaluation “of 100 euros” of the AAH during his five-year term.

Marine Le Pen, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Fabien Roussel and Valérie Pécresse also promise a revaluation of the AAH, the maximum amount of which is currently set at 903.60 euros. The candidate of the National Rally thus commits to the “revalue to 1,000 euros” per month, if elected.

“We want to bring the AAH to the level of the Smic”for his part declared the deputy LFI Adrien Quattenens, who represented Jean-Luc Mélenchon, car “903 euros is below the poverty line”. He also underlined that in his program, Jean-Luc Mélenchon wants to increase the amount of the minimum wage to “1,400 euros net.”

Fabien Roussel also wants “revalue” the AHA and “bring it to the level of the minimum wage”, explained Michèle Demessine, who came to detail her proposals in terms of disability. In his program, the communist promises to increase the minimum wage to 1,500 euros net per month.

If Valérie Pécresse is also considering an increase in the AAH, her representative, Senator LR Philippe Mouiller, has shown himself “very careful” on its amount. “The idea is to certainly go on an AAH indexation system so that there is an evolution in the cost of living, and gradually approach the poverty line.”