Shortly after President Emmanuel Macron took office, the French government announced far-reaching changes to social legislation aimed at modernising the social security system. The government programme highlighted three priorities: 1. adapting the system to the industrial relations of the future (l'avenir professionnel) through an extended unemployment insurance scheme; 2. fighting poverty by simplifying and improving the social assistance system; 3.a pension scheme that meets the needs of different career paths.
With this reform programme, the French government intends to play a pioneering role in Europe. The resulting experience can indeed serve as an example of reform for other countries. For this to succeed, however, answers must be found to a number of questions: To what extent have the reforms achieved their goals? Are there general tendencies, such as universalisation? Do the reforms meet the challenges for the welfare state in the 21st century? The research project "Social Reforms in France" will critically examine the reform measures with regard to these questions.
