Derisory and cruel 'economies'
The observation is bitter. An amendment of 10 million euros, yet voted by the Senators to support the departures in summer camps, has been purely and simply deleted. Even more serious, the 'Colos apprenantes' system, created in 2020, is completely disappearing.
For the State, it is a matter of saving 36.8 million euros. A derisory amount in the national budget, but an immense loss for the 80,000 children — from Child Welfare (ASE), with disabilities or residing in rural and priority areas—who benefited each year. Today, 2 out of 5 children still do not go on vacation in France.
Double standards: A national inconsistency
How to justify these "penny-faring savings" on education and the mental health of young people when, at the same time, more than 13,000 millionaires are evading taxes (see: France Culture)? This contrast is unbearable. The development of the most vulnerable is sacrificed in the name of a rigid budgetary path, while allowing colossal tax revenues to slip away that could largely finance these social programs.
The right to holidays cannot be a budgetary adjustment variable. We refuse a society where one scratches a few millions on the happiness of children while closing their eyes to the tax evasion of the richest. It is time to demand an ambitious, funded and sustainable public policy.
From July 2025, national collectives of associations mobilized
When the finance bill was being discussed, these same groups sent an open letter to the Prime Minister in which they stated inter alia that 'Children are our future, they must not be victims of past mistakes'.
It is clear that these calls have remained a dead letter and that 'Depriving children of vacations is an infringement on their right'.
You will find on the following link the press release entitled "When 49.3 sacrifices children’s holidays", published today by several of these collectives that are the Youth in the Open Air (JPA), Hexopée, CNAJEP, Resocolo, National Union of Tourism and Outdoor Associations (UNAT) and French Scouting.
Roland Daval and Dominique Bénard
Photo of Vitolda Klein on Unsplash
