Maternity, parental, birth leave… why is Emmanuel Macron so interested in new babies ?

Emmanuel Macron veut changer le congé parental. MAXPPP/ILLUSTRATION UNSPLASH – CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/ADITYA ROMANSA

During a press conference on Tuesday January 16, 2024, the President of the Republic announced the creation of birth leave in place of parental leave. What would this entail and why is Emmanuel Macron looking into the issue now ?

Better paid, shorter… the birth leave project has barely been announced when it already unleashes the passions of some. "The delirium", "there are no places in crèche ", "promote the birth rate"… in the wake of Emmanuel Macron's announcement, Internet users did not fail to give their opinion on the idea.< /p>

Remplacer le congé parental de 3 ans par un congé de naissance de 6 mois alors qu’il n’y a pas de places en crèches 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

— Alpha Golf (@Alpha_G0lf) January 16, 2024

And for good reason, anchored in labor law since 1977, parental leave has, over the course of reforms, resulted in maternity leave lasting sixteen to twenty-seven weeks for mothers and three days of paternity for fathers. They are included in parental leave, longer, of one year, and extendable twice, poses the Senate. 

Pour relancer la natalité de la France, nous allons créer un nouveau congé de naissance mieux rémunéré pour les parents et engager un grand plan de lutte contre l'infertilité qui progresse et fait souffrir tant de couples.

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 17, 2024

New birth leave

During his post-reshuffle press conference, the Head of State announced the establishment of six-month birth leave, granted to each parent of a child. #39;a newly born child. It would replace parental leave, which can currently last up to three years, reports France Info. 

To defend his project, the President also added that if it were not so long, this parental leave would be "better paid". 

Fighting the Baby Crash 

It's within the framework of a "demographic rearmament" and the fight against the decline in the birth rate that the President intends to put in place birth leave of this nature. The French are having fewer and fewer children, a trend that is accelerating. In 2014, the drop in births was 1.6% on average, before increasing to 2.2% in 2022 and up to 6.6% in 2023, note Public Life. 

Already last June, Minister Aurore Bergé, then at Solidarités (now in charge of gender equality), announced a "large shot" of the fight against infertility "male and female", deploring a drop in the birth rate. < /p>