Last week, the National Federation of Solidarity Women (FNSF), which has been operating the 3919 line since 1992, announced that it was going to administrative courts to try to obtain the annulment of the competitive process desired by the government.

The ministry responsible for equality between women and men announced its suspension on Monday. 

The government has decided to "interrupt" the contested public procurement procedure supposed to designate the operator managing the helpline 3919 for women victims of domestic violence, the minister responsible for the case, Elisabeth Moreno, announced on Monday.

The ministry responsible for equality between women and men "will reexamine how to redefine the management mode" of this service, he said in a statement.

This call for tenders was strongly contested by the National Federation of Solidarity Women (FNSF), which has been operating the line since 1992.

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Last week, the FNSF announced that it was going to the administrative courts to try to obtain the annulment of the competitive process, and indicated that it did not intend to apply for the market.

Currently the FNSF is bound by an agreement of objectives and resources to the State, which finances 80% of the line's budget.

But the government - which wants, since the "Grenelle" against domestic violence at the end of 2019, to strengthen this service and in particular to make it accessible 24 hours a day - has so far asserted that a tendering procedure was essential for legal reasons.

"Continue to keep and improve the 3919"

In the medium term, the line will in fact become comparable to a public service, since the State will define its objectives and modalities, and will finance it 100%, argued the cabinet of Elisabeth Moreno.

The FNSF, for its part, saw in the call for tenders a "mercantile" approach, giving priority according to it to the quantity of calls handled rather than the quality of listening to women in distress.

The interruption of the call for tenders does not constitute "a renunciation" but "the taking into account of the need to bring together", commented to AFP the cabinet of Elisabeth Moreno.

The ministry "will study as soon as possible, with associations and local elected officials, all the options on how to continue to support and improve the 3919", the same source added.