Margaux Fodéré / Photo credit: LILIAN CAZABET / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 19:52 p.m., May 30, 2023

In its plan to fight social fraud, the government wants to double the adjustments by 2027 but also strengthen controls for retirees living abroad. How does the executive intend to go about this? Europe 1 details the announcements of the Minister of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal.

Merger of the Carte Vitale and the identity card, doubling of adjustments by 2027, changes to the conditions of access to housing allowances... On Tuesday, the Minister of Public Accounts made a series of announcements as part of the government's plan to combat social fraud. And among them is the tightening of controls for pensioners living abroad, especially those living outside Europe.

The idea follows an experiment: inspectors were sent several months ago to Algiers to verify the existence of French pensioners almost a hundred years old. And out of 1,000 files, 300 were non-compliant, a fraud rate of 30%. Gabriel Attal therefore wants to launch a control program on all retirees over 85 who live outside European borders, nearly 500,000 people.

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More human resources in consulates

This will involve appointments at consulates or local banks to check the civil status of retirees. And for Pascal Brindeau, former UDI MP and rapporteur of the commission of inquiry on social fraud, this measure is a step in the right direction, but on one condition: "It simply implies that we must strengthen the human resources of consulates in these countries. Because otherwise, you will have a traffic jam of appointments on the issue of pension control, in addition to appointments related to residence permits or other visas," he explains.

On this point, Bercy confirms on the principle but does not give a country-by-country breakdown for the sake of confidentiality. Because of the historical relations between the two countries, 60% of these French retirees over 85 years old outside the European Union live in Algeria.