This 2023-2026 plan, which will be detailed on Monday by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and the Minister responsible for Equal Opportunities Isabelle Rome, in the presence of ten other ministers, provides for a series of measures which affect different sectors, ranging from education to employment through justice or sport.

Among its flagship measures, it plans for example to "systematize testing on discrimination in employment", in different sectors of activity, private and public, in consultation with trade unions and employers' organizations and associations in particular.

Testing consists of sending two identical CVs for the same job offer, with the only differences being the candidate's origin and/or an address in a working-class area.

In a "graduated logic", if bad practices persist, the government does not rule out resorting to the practice of "name and shame", publishing the names of companies that are not very virtuous.

The plan also provides for the organization of a “history or memory visit linked to racism, anti-Semitism or anti-Gypsyism for each student during their schooling”.

The Minister for Equal Opportunities Isabelle Rome, January 18, 2023 in Paris © Ludovic MARIN / AFP/Archives

A "reinforcement" of the training of teachers and agents of the State civil service in general (security forces, Pôle Emploi reception agents, etc.) is also requested.

The government also intends to create aggravated penalties in the event of "non-public offenses of a racist or anti-Semitic nature committed in the exercise of their function by persons holding public authority or charged with a public service mission".

In order to "promote digital citizenship", the plan plans to involve "platforms and influencers, in a collaborative work to develop tools aimed at improving the behavior of Internet users".

As with victims of sexual violence, the government wants to secure the filing of a complaint.

Also the police are invited to better collect and process them, via "partial anonymization" or thanks to "an evaluation grid" in order to "better qualify the facts when taking complaint".

The government still intends to include in the law "the possibility" of issuing an "arrest warrant" in the event of "convictions of a racist or anti-Semitic nature", "dispute of a crime against humanity" or "apology for crimes against humanity or war crimes".

This is to allow the execution of sentences "when the convicted perpetrators think of escaping it by fleeing abroad".

© 2023 AFP