The change

S O C I A L I S T P R O J E C T 2 0 1 2

THE CHANGE

2

30 COMMITMENTS FOR CHANGE

3KICK-STARTING FRANCE AND PROPOSING A NEW DEVELOPMENT MODEL

EMPLOYMENT, COMPETITIVITY, INVESTMENT, DEBT REPAYMENT: MAKING FRANCE A LEADING NATION ONCE AGAIN

1 To boost French competitiveness, we will create a Public Investment Bank which will invest in

research and innovation, support small businesses, acquire shareholdings in strategic activities

and the industrial sectors of the future. Its resources will be deployed in the form of regional funds

jointly managed along with the regions and their elected representatives.

2 To ensure that the economy takes precedence over finance, and to regulate the financial system, we

will reduce corporation tax from 33% to 20% for companies who reinvest all of their profits and will

increase it up to 40% for those who prefer to pay dividends to shareholders. On a Europewide level,

we will introduce a tax of 0.05% on financial transactions. We will fight to dismantle tax havens.

We will separate the banks’ current-account and investment banking activities. We will set up a

European public credit rating agency.

3 To help Europe move forward, we will be proposing to our partners that we should issue euro bonds

in order to finance investments for the future (energy transportation networks, digital networks and

the biotechnologies, etc) in addition to Europe’s future industrial champions.

4 Where youth employment is concerned, we will create 300,000 «future-focused» jobs in the

environmental and social innovation fields.

5 To protect employees, we will introduce a professional social security system, taking the form of

a «time-training» account enabling everyone to take time out to study, to undertake a personal

project or to look a!er their families and to select the terms for their retirement. We will take action

to dissuade companies from carrying out stock market driven redundancy programmes with

financial penalties for companies who pay out dividends to their shareholders at the same time.

6 In order to protect Europe’s interests and its know-how and employees in a globalised world, and

to be better able to regulate trade we will take action to increase customs duties on products from

countries which do not meet international social, health or environmental standards.

7 To reduce France’s debt, we will devote half of the financial margins which we generate to debt

repayment.

4 AGRICULTURE, THE ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY: A NEW MODEL FOR BETTER LIVING

8 To encourage environmentally friendly behaviour, we will make the VAT «eco-variable» (lowering it

on non-pollutant products and increasing it on products which generate pollution).

9 To ensure that our food is healthier and that farmers can make a living from their work, we will have

local authorities source their supplies from high-quality local agriculture and fishing (including

milk and dairy products, meat, fruit and vegetables).

10 To wean ourselves o" our dependency on nuclear power and oil, we will massively expand the

quest for energy savings and the use of renewable energy sources and will propose that our

partners introduce a European Energy Community. We will organise a national debate on energy

transition in 2012.

PURCHASING POWER, WAGES & PENSIONS: MAKING LIFE LESS EXPENSIVE

11 To reduce the French population’s energy bill, we will invest part of the massive profits from the

oil companies into Insulation aid and the development of renewable energy sources. We will

introduce progressive pricing for gas, electricity and water.

12 In order to stop the surge in rents, we will cap the levels of rent rises for the first rental or

subsequent rental, particularly in areas a"ected by property speculation and we will finance the

construction of 150,000 low rent homes each year.

13 In order that the equality of the sexes becomes a reality where wages and careers are concerned,

we will make this a condition for any company wishing to retain exemptions from employers’

payroll taxes.

14 To help young adults succeed during their studies, to find housing, to obtain health care and to

get a job, we will create a means tested study allowance as part of e"orts to guarantee greater

independence for young people. A right to deferred basic training will be granted to those who

have le! the educational system early.

15 For a fairer distribution of wealth benefiting employees, we will organise an annual tripartite

salary conference and will revalue the purchasing power of the minimum wage. We will limit

abusive pay policies including variable remuneration which does not exceed the fixed portion,

pay di"erentials of 1 to 20 maximum in companies in which the public has a shareholding, the

presence of employees on the executive boards or supervisory boards and pay committees.

516 Regarding retirement pensions, we will re-establish the legal retirement age at 60 (to enable

those who began working earlier or who have had stressful and strenuous jobs to be able

to leave at the same age as was possible before the 2010 law) and the retirement age with no

loss of pension at 65. We will introduce the pensions reform promised to the French population

based on collective guarantees allowing for individual choices and guaranteeing the future of the

retirement schemes through the provision of 100% financing.

FISCAL REFORMS: FAIRER AND MORE EFFECTIVE

17 For a fairer taxation system, we will merge income tax and the CSG contribution in a more

progressive «citizens’ tax» which will be deducted at source.

18 To ensure that work is su#ciently valued, we will ensure that income from capital, bonuses and stock

options are subject to the same taxation levels as income from work, which is not currently the case.

REDISCOVERING JUSTICE TO CREATE REAL EQUALITY

SERVICES: EDUCATION, HEALTH AND PUBLIC SECURITY ARE THE NEW PRIORITIES

19 To ensure the educational success of every youngster, we will initiate a new educational pact between

teachers and the nation: priority will be given to ensuring success in the primary years, including a

review of lesson times and syllabuses (with a common bedrock of knowledge and skills), greater

customisation for teaching, improved supervision and measures to improve the standing of the

teaching profession. We will also encourage access to culture and the practising of sports.

20 For both higher education and research, we will be focusing in particular on success in the

undergraduate years, boosting educational supervision and providing the long-term resources

needed to guarantee the autonomy and reputations of teams, laboratories and universities.

21 To maximise the self-fulfilment of our youngest citizens, access to a crèche and the possibility to

start school at the age of two will be extended.

22 In the health field, we will be placing public hospitals back where they belong at the very heart of our

system and will be asking young independent doctors to begin their careers in areas lacking physicians.

6 23 To improve the lives of elderly people su"ering a loss of autonomy, whether living at home or in a

care establishment, we will call upon the French spirit of national solidarity. To ensure access for

all to urban life, we will guarantee the inclusion of a «disability clause» in every law and we will

gradually increase the disabled adults allowance.

24 To improve the security of the French people and public order in general, we will boost the

resources of the police and the gendarmerie, in particular through the creation of 10,000

gendarme and local police posts. For a more e"ective justice system, we will seek to «catch up»

the resources the system is missing. Every act of delinquency will receive an immediate, fair and

proportionate response.

REUNITING THE FRENCH PEOPLE AND REDISCOVERING FRANCE’S

REPUBLICAN COMMITMENTS25 To fight discrimination, we will ensure the widespread use of anonymous CVs featuring neither a

name nor photo, and will experiment with a system of certificates to be supplied by police when

carrying out identity checks.

26 To guarantee gender and family equality, we will extend the right to marry and adopt to all

couples.

27 For a fair and e"ective immigration policy, every three years we will vote through a steering and

planning law which will be drawn up in consultation with the social partners and the regions

which chiefly handle the reception and integration of migrants. We will reinforce the fight against

employers using illegal immigrants as labour and against people tra#ckers. We will create a

genuine reception and integration contract based on reciprocal obligations and stressing the

need to speak the language and to understand the rights and duties of the Republic. We will grant

the right to vote to foreigners at local elections.

28 To ensure the existence of su#cient checks and balances, we will guarantee the independence

of the justice system (no more individual investigations and the careers of magistrates will no

longer be subject to the whims of the political authorities). We will have a law voted through to

guarantee e"ective plurality in the media and the managers of the public audiovisual sector will

no longer be chosen by the President.

729 For greater democracy, we will strengthen the role of the parliament, introducing a degree of

proportionality in Parliamentary elections, and converting the Constitutional Council into a

genuine independent Constitutional Court. We will remove public funding for parties which

fail to meet parity objectives. We will combat conflicts of interest and will impose limits on the

accumulation of elected mandates.

30 To encourage local democracy and regional cohesion, we will repeal the regional reforms imposed

by the UMP. We will introduce a third round of decentralisation guaranteeing financial autonomy

and management for local authorities, an equalisation process benefiting disadvantaged

regions, a new “pact of confidence” and between the state and local authorities, active citizenship,

a guaranteed presence for the public services, a determined and ambitious programme for the

overseas départements and territories, including social housing, infrastructure and transport

aimed at boosting economic development and access to employment.