Part IV - The reform agenda for recovered sovereignty
6 - Family policy and natality
La baisse de la fécondité française n’est pas un phénomène culturel inéluctable : c’est la conséquence documentée de l’érosion progressive du soutien matériel aux familles depuis les années 1970. La part des allocations familiales dans le revenu moyen des foyers a reculé continûment depuis 1946, avec une corrélation directe avec la baisse du taux de fécondité. La réponse est donc économique et matérielle avant d’être culturelle ; on ne fait pas d’enfant par impossibilité concrète, pas par manque d’envie.
Parental leave
Maternity leave is extended to 12 months, paid at 80% of net salary with a floor at the SMIC, so that the choice to stop working is genuinely possible for all families and not only for those who can afford a loss of income. Paternity leave is set at 3 months under the same conditions (80% of net salary, floor at the SMIC). It is non-transferable to the mother and non-deferrable: if it is not taken, it is lost. This non-transferable nature is deliberate; the experience of Nordic countries shows that this is the only way to guarantee genuine use by fathers and not a systematic transfer to the mother that reproduces existing professional inequalities.
The status of the stay-at-home parent
A parent who chooses to stop working to raise their children beyond parental leave exercises a real and precious social function: they raise the future citizens of the nation. This choice is recognized and valued, not treated as a situation of dependence or a renunciation. The retirement contributions of the stay-at-home parent are maintained by the State on the basis of the SMIC for the entire duration of the interruption: a parent does not sacrifice their retirement rights to raise their children. A specific allowance is paid to make this choice economically viable, the amount of which is defined by economists within the framework of the principle that it must represent a real contribution to the family's standard of living and not a symbol.
Family allowances - deliberate progressivity
Family allowances are universal: paid to all families without means-testing. Their structure is deliberately non-linear to create a real incentive for the transition to 3 children and beyond, the demographically decisive threshold.
A single child does not entitle to allowances: one child is the demographic replacement of one parent, not yet a contribution to the growth of the nation. At two children, allowances begin; the demographic replacement threshold is reached. At three children and beyond, the amount progresses significantly with each additional child, not linearly but in a growing fashion, so that each additional child represents a real and perceptible improvement in the family's standard of living. The precise amounts are defined by economists within the framework of this principle.
Family allowances are indexed to the real cost of the child, and not to the general consumer price index which systematically underestimates expenditures related to education and family life.
Family public services
Universal and free public nurseries are an absolute priority of the department: objective of full coverage of needs within ten years. Primary school, the canteen, and extracurricular activities are under departmental responsibility, with a family contribution staggered over twenty levels for the canteen according to income.
During the ramp-up of public nurseries, the childminder system is maintained and strengthened: it is today the primary childcare mode for children under three in France, with more than 300,000 active professionals. Their employment status is strengthened (unemployment protection between contracts, decent retirement rights, same logic as other care professions). Administrative management is simplified: the department manages the contract and remuneration, the family pays a contribution according to its income on the nursery model. As public nurseries progressively cover the territory, childminders freely choose to join a public structure or to continue independently for those who prefer this childcare mode. This is the same logic as everywhere else in the project: one does not destroy before having built, one does not create a void while waiting for the ideal solution.
Family housing is addressed in the dedicated workstream; it is inseparable from natalist policy and the two mutually reinforce each other.