Thibaud Hue, with AFP / Photo credit: GUILLAUME SOUVANT / AFP 14:57 pm, April 21, 2023

On a trip to the Indre, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne spoke about public services, including the time to obtain an identity card that she has promised to halve by the summer. New fingerprint collection kiosks will also be installed to streamline the process.

Nearly a week after the promulgation of the law on pension reform, Elisabeth Borne is traveling in the Indre to discuss public services. The Prime Minister took the opportunity to speak about the deadline for obtaining an identity card and pledged to halve it by the summer. Today, these delays are on average 66 days.

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A delay of "20 days in the autumn"

According to the Prime Minister, the goal is to shorten the deadline "to 30 days this summer" and to "20 days in the fall" everywhere in France. For this, the number of appointments available will be increased and 655 fingerprint collection terminals will be installed this summer in the 30 departments where waiting times to redo your identity card are the longest. Elisabeth Borne also added that these measures will represent 100 million euros of "sustainable" support from the State to local authorities.

The government also intends to accompany people who proceed by phone or by a visit to the town hall to facilitate the process. "The goal is for all French people to have an overview of the appointments that are available," she explained. Since the end of 2021, applications for the creation or renewal of identity documents have increased by an unprecedented amount.

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12 million requests in 2022 compared to 9 million in 2019

An increase caused as much by the gradual exit from the Covid 19 pandemic and the catching up of applications as by the enthusiasm for the new identity card or the fact that valid identity documents are more often required, especially for travel. The France has increased from about 9 million applications in 2019 to more than 12 million in 2022.

For the Prime Minister's visit, a security perimeter was set up and protesters were kept away. Among the handpicked users who were able to approach her, none questioned her about the pension reform.