The Parliament definitively adopted on Tuesday a bill aimed at “better protecting” the approximately three million self-employed workers and “making their lives easier”. The compromise text, which was reached by deputies and senators in a joint joint committee, was adopted by the Senate unanimously by the votes cast during the day, and then, in the evening, by the National Assembly also unanimously by the votes cast. In both chambers, the left abstained, considering the text “insufficient”.
The bill creates a unique status for self-employed people – artisans, traders, liberal professionals… – which distinguishes between their professional and their personal heritage. Personal property will now be elusive by default in the event of bankruptcy, whereas today only the main residence is protected.
Banks’ attitude “a point of vigilance”
This measure, which deviates from the legal principle of the uniqueness of patrimony, was a long-standing request of these workers, whose activity by nature faces significant risks, brought brutally to light by the Covid-19 health crisis. It will enter into force three months after the promulgation of the law. “Miracles should not be expected, however, because the most important creditors, in particular the banks, will continue to demand special security rights over certain of the entrepreneur’s property, including his personal property,” warned the rapporteur of the text in the Senate Christophe-André Frassa (LR), however.
“We will expect the banking institutions to take all responsibility in the implementation of this reform, we will be very vigilant,” promised the Minister of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne.
The attitude of the banks is also “a point of vigilance” pointed out by the secretary general of the Independent Trade Union (SDI), Marc Sanchez, who hailed in the bill “a decisive leap for the improvement of the status of individual entrepreneurs as well as their social and fiscal situations”.
800 euros per month for six months
The bill is the “cornerstone” of the plan for the self-employed announced by President Emmanuel Macron on September 16, according to the minister. It is articulated with a budget component voted at the end of 2021, to facilitate the disposals of companies, too few in France when an entrepreneur retires, thanks to capital gains tax exemptions (500,000 euros abatement instead of 300,000).
Another key measure of the text: the conditions for access to the allowance for self-employed workers (ATI), considered too restrictive, are extended to any total and definitive cessation of activity that is not economically viable. “To estimate if the activity is not viable, we will look at whether he has a decrease in his income of at least 30%,” said Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne. Unlike employees, the self-employed do not receive unemployment benefits. Since 2019, they can benefit from the ITA, a lump sum of 800 euros per month for a maximum period of six months, but only in the event of liquidation or reorganization. In December, about 1,000 people were receiving ITA, the government’s goal was to target 29,000 beneficiaries.